HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) ġ S.L.328.03 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 328.03
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-
HOUSES SCHEME) REGULATIONS 
26th November, 1991
LEGAL NOTICE 179 of 1991.
Citation. 
(Encouragement) (Purchase of Government Dwelling-Houses
Scheme) Regulations.
Making of 
Scheme.
2. The Scheme entitled Purchase of Government Dwelling-
Houses Scheme, 1991 (Scheme G) in the Schedule to these
regulations shall have effect from the date of the coming into force
of these regulations for the encouragement of home ownership in
Malta and shall lapse one year after that date.
Annulment of L.N. 
139 of 1990.
3. The Home Ownership (Encouragement) (Purchase of
Government Dwelling-Houses Scheme) Regulations are by this
annulled.
SCHEDULE
(Regulation 2)
Purchase of Government Dwelling-Houses Scheme, 1991
(Scheme G)
Citation.
Dwelling-Houses Scheme, 1991 (Scheme G) and shall apply to
applications for the purchase of dwelling-houses which are the
property of the Government by persons to whom this Scheme
applies.
Interpretation.
"the Act" with reference to clause 12 has the same meaning
assigned to it in that clause;
"aggregate annual income" has the same meaning assigned to it
in clause 5(3);
"applicant" means a person who applies for the purchase of a
Government dwelling-house under this Scheme;
Cap. 261.
"the Authority" means the Housing Authority established by
article 3 of the Housing Authority Act;
"basic year" means the year immediately preceding the year in
which an application under this Scheme is made and with reference
to clause 8(5) it means the year immediately preceding the year in
which a revision under that sub-clause is due;
"beneficiary" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 2 of
2 ġ S.L.328.03
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
the principal Act;
"dwelling-house" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 2
of the principal Act;
"Government" means the Government of Malta;
"ordinary residence" does not include a summer residence;
"prescribed" means prescribed by the Authority;
Cap. 328. "the principal Act" means the Home Ownership
(Encouragement) Act;
"recognised tenant" means a person holding a Government
dwelling-house under a title of lease from the Government and
recognised as such by the Government.
Applications for 
purchase.
3. (1) Any person qualified to do so under this Scheme may
make an application on the prescribed form to the Authority
requesting to purchase a Government dwelling-house of which he
is the recognised tenant and which is occupied by him as his
ordinary residence.
(2) A person shall qualify to make an application under this
Scheme where, on the date of the application:
( a ) the applicant or, in the case of a married couple, the
applicant’s spouse, is a citizen of Malta; and
( b ) the applicant and the applicant’s spouse or fiancée/
fiancé are residents of Malta and have been so resident
continuously for not less than twelve consecutive
months immediately preceding the date of the
application.
(3) A person shall not qualify to make an application under
this Scheme if the applicant or the applicant’s spouse has already
benefited under:
( a ) any of the schemes published by Government Notices
Numbers 11 and 12 in the Government Gazette of the
6th January, 1987; or
( b ) the scheme published by Government Notice Number
138 in the Government Gazette of the 20th February,
1987; or
( c ) any of the schemes published by Government Notices
Numbers 124, 126, 127, 128, 129 and 130 in the
Government Gazette of the 16th February, 1988; or
( d ) any of the schemes published by Legal Notices 137,
138, 139 and 140 in the supplement of the Government
Gazette of the 7th September, 1990; or
( e ) any assistance under what used to be known as the
"Home Ownership Scheme" or any other assistance for
the encouragement of home ownership by the
Department of Social Housing or by the Land
Department or by the Authority or by any of them
jointly. 
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) ġ S.L.328.03 3
Cap. 303.
(4) A person shall also not qualify to make an application
under this Scheme if he has acquired land from the Government
which had been expropriated by virtue of the provisions of the
Building Development Areas Act.
(5) A person who, on the coming into force of this Scheme,
has an application pending under any of the schemes published by
Government Notices Numbers 127 and 128 in the Government
Gazette of the 16th February, 1988 and/or by Legal Notices 139
and 140 published in the supplement of the Government Gazette of
the 7th September, 1990 may, unless he has entered into a promise
of sale agreement with the Authority in respect of that application,
renounce that application and make an application under this
Scheme upon payment of the administrative charge provided for in
clause 13 and that charge shall not be refundable.
(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-clause (3), a person
who benefits, or qualifies to benefit, under this Scheme shall not be
disqualified for that reason alone from benefiting, after the coming
into force of these regulations, under the scheme published by
Government Notice Number 124 in the Government Gazette of the
16th February, 1988 or under any other scheme substituting it.
(7) Saving the provisions of clause 13(1), any expenses
incurred by the applicant in connection with his application shall
not be recoverable by the applicant whether or not his application is
successful.
Legally separated 
spouses.
4. An applicant who is legally separated from his spouse shall
produce a copy of the final judgement of the competent court
pronouncing separation or a copy of the public deed effecting
separation by mutual consent of the spouses with the authority of
the competent court.
Aggregate annual 
income.
5. (1) For the purposes of this Scheme, the income of the
applicant shall include:
( a ) gross gains or profits from any trade, business,
profession or vocation;
( b ) gross gains or profits from any employment or office;
( c ) gross gains or profits arising from the sale of any
property or from the carrying on or carrying out of any
profit-making undertaking or scheme;
( d ) dividends, interests or discounts;
( e ) any pension, charge, annuity or annual payment;
( f ) rents, royalties, premiums and any other profits arising
from property;
( g ) the value of any produce receivable in respect of the
use of capital, property, seed or stock for the purpose
of husbandry or any share of profits receivable in
respect of such use;
( h ) any social benefit or allowance;
( i ) any gains or profits falling under the descriptions in
the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-clause other than
those in paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ), made by the
4 ġ S.L.328.03
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
applicant’s spouse or fiancée/fiancé;
( j ) fifty percent (50%) of the gains or profits falling under
any of the descriptions in paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ) made
by the applicant’s spouse or fiancée/fiancé;
( k ) any other gains or profits.
(2) Where the applicant, and in the case of a married or
engaged couple, the applicant or his spouse or fiancée/fiancé, or
both, was or were gainfully occupied as provided in sub-clause
(1)( a ) and ( b ) during only a part of the basic year, the gains or
profits from such gainful occupation for the whole basic year shall
be calculated by projecting the gains or profits made from such
gainful occupation during the said part of the basic year by the
applicant and/or his spouse or fiancée/fiancé, or by both, as the
case may be, for the whole basic year.
(3) The aggregate annual income of the applicant shall be the
income of the applicant determined in accordance with the
foregoing sub-clauses from which the sum of one thousand liri
(Lm1,000) shall be deducted.
Information. 6. (1) The applicant shall give all that information regarding
his financial means as he may be required to give by the Authority
and for this purpose the applicant shall authorise the Commissioner
of Inland Revenue, the Director of Social Security and any other
person as may be necessary, to give the Authority any information
concerning the applicant’s income during the basic year.
(2) The Authority may require the applicant to sign any
declaration it may consider necessary for the carrying out of this
Scheme and the applicant shall allow the Authority to inspect his
ordinary residence and any other tenement held by him as the
Authority may require.
Purchase price. 7. (1) Where the aggregate annual income of the applicant in
the basic year does not exceed six thousand liri (Lm6,000), the
purchase price for the absolute ownership of a Government
dwelling house shall be the free market value of that dwelling-
house as determined by the Authority reduced as shown in the
second column of Table A annexed to this Scheme in proportion to
the aggregate annual income of the applicant as shown in the first
column of the said Table, subject to sub-clause (3).
(2) Where the aggregate annual income of the applicant in the
basic year exceeds six thousand liri (Lm6,000), the purchase price
of the dwelling-house shall be the free market value thereof as
determined by the Authority reduced, where applicable, and up to
the first fourteen thousand liri (Lm14,000) of the said value, by one
percent (1%) thereof for every whole year that the applicant has
been recognised as the tenant of the dwelling-house up to a
maximum of twenty (20) years.
(3) The reduced purchase price shown in the second column of
Table A annexed to this Scheme shall also be further reduced by
one percent (1%) thereof for every whole year that the applicant
has been recognised as tenant of the dwelling-house up to a
maximum of twenty (20) years.
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) ġ S.L.328.03 5
(4) Where the free market value of the dwelling-house as
determined by the Authority exceeds fourteen thousand liri
(Lm14,000) the excess shall be payable without any reduction as
provided in the foregoing sub-clauses of this clause.
Payment of 
purchase price.
8. (1) Ten percent (10%) of the purchase price determined in
accordance with the provisions of this Scheme shall be paid on
account of the said price by the applicant on the promise of sale
agreement with the Authority but the amount so paid shall not be
recoverable by the applicant should he fail, for any reason, to
conclude the deed of sale with the Authority.
(2) The balance of the purchase price shall be paid on the deed
of sale entered into between the applicant and the Authority. Where
an applicant does not make use of his right to borrow part of the
purchase price as provided in sub-clause (3) ten percent (10%) shall
be deducted from the purchase price determined in accordance with
the provisions of this Scheme and such a deduction shall be made
from the purchase price as reduced in accordance with the
provisions of clause 7(2) and (3).
(3) The applicant may borrow part of the purchase price from a
financial institution approved by the Authority but the amount of
the loan shall not exceed the limit laid down in the fourth column
of Table B annexed to this Scheme, according to the aggregate
annual income of the applicant as shown in the second column of
the said Table, and shall be repayable in monthly instalments
within a maximum period of twenty-five (25) years from the date of
the deed of sale or not later than the date on which he becomes
sixty-five (65) years of age, whichever is the earlier.
(4) Where an applicant has obtained a loan in accordance with
sub-clause (3), the Authority shall subsidise the interests payable
on the loan so that the interests payable by the applicant shall be at
the rate shown in the third column of Table B annexed to this
Scheme. No subsidy shall be payable where the aggregate annual
income of the applicant for the basic year exceeds five thousand liri
(Lm5,000).
(5) The rate of interest payable by the applicant as aforesaid
shall be revised by the Authority every two (2) years on the basis of
the aggregate annual income for the basic year and the amount of
the subsidy payable by the Authority shall also be revised
accordingly. The first revision shall be due on the 1st of July 1993.
(6) The Authority shall ensure that where the aggregate annual
income of the purchaser in any one year is less than one thousand
seven hundred liri (Lml,700) the payment of monthly instalments
due in repayment of any loan as aforesaid shall be suspended for a
period of up to three months which may be extended by further
periods of three months provided that the purchaser shall continue
to pay the rate of interest payable by him under this Scheme.
Transfer by the 
beneficiary.
9. (1) Any dwelling-house purchased under this Scheme shall
not be transferred under any title, other than  causa mortis , by the
beneficiary unless he complies with the following provisions of this
clause.
(2) Where the transfer is to take place within ten years from
6 ġ S.L.328.03
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
the date of the deed of sale concluded with the Authority the
beneficiary shall, before the transfer is effected, pay to the
Authority and the financial institution approved by it under this
Scheme, as the case may be, the whole or part of the value of any
subsidy and of any amount deducted from the free market value of
the dwelling-house under this Scheme as laid down in the second
column of Table C annexed to this Scheme.
(3) Where the transfer of the dwelling-house purchased under
this Scheme is to take place after ten years from the date of the
publication of the deed of sale concluded with the Authority, the
beneficiary shall not make any payment as provided in sub-clause
(2) but shall give the Authority one month’s notice of his intention
to transfer the said dwelling-house and the Authority shall
thereupon terminate any arrangement for the subsidy under this
Scheme of any interests payable by the beneficiary.
Relief from death 
and donation duty.
10. Relief as provided in article 3( b ) of the principal Act is
hereby granted on the death of the beneficiary, and where the
beneficiary is married at the time of the acquisition of the dwelling-
house, also on the death of the beneficiary’s spouse, in respect of
any dwelling-house purchased by a beneficiary under this Scheme
and the provisions of article 6 of that Act shall therefore apply
thereto:
Provided that the aforesaid relief shall only apply in
respect of the first seven thousand liri (Lm7,000) of the value of the
dwelling-house.
Right to decontrol 
decontrol 
dwelling-house.
Cap. 158.
11. The right is hereby granted to register under the Housing
(Decontrol) Ordinance a dwelling-house purchased by a
beneficiary under this Scheme and the provisions of article 7 of the
principal Act shall therefore apply thereto.
Relief from duty 
on documents.
Cap. 364.
12. The transfer of a dwelling-house to a beneficiary under this
Scheme shall be exempt from the following duties under the Duty
on Documents and Transfers Act, hereinafter in this clause referred
to as "the Act":
( a ) the duty under Title II of Part III of the Act in respect
of any amount deducted in accordance with this
Scheme from the free market value of the transferred
dwelling-house;
( b ) the duty under Title II of Part III of the Act in respect
of any appraisement or valuation of the dwelling-
house made by or on behalf of the Authority for the
purposes of this Scheme.
Administrative 
charge and 
abandoned 
applications.
13. (1) Any application under this Scheme shall be lodged
personally or by registered mail by the applicant with the Authority
and that application shall not be accepted unless accompanied by
the sum of twenty liri (Lm20) as an administrative charge which,
saving the provisions of clause 3(5) and subject to sub-clause (2) of
this clause, shall be refunded to the applicant on the deed of sale.
(2) Where any applicant under this Scheme fails to appear on
the promise of sale agreement or on the deed of sale, as the case
may be, when called upon to do so by the Authority, his application
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) ġ S.L.328.03 7
shall be deemed to have been abandoned and the administrative
charge mentioned in sub-clause (1) shall not be recoverable by the
applicant.
Penalty for false 
declarations.
14. (1) If at any time it results that the applicant has made a
false declaration for the purposes of any application made by him
under the provisions of this Scheme the applicant, without
prejudice to any punishment for which he may have become liable
under any other law, shall be liable to the payment to the Authority
of a penalty equivalent to the sum total of any subsidy and of any
amount deducted from the free market value of the dwelling-house
under the provisions of this Scheme.
(2) Any person who has made a false declaration as provided
in sub-clause (1) shall be disqualified for a period of five (5) years
from benefiting from any scheme made with the approval of the
Parliamentary Secretary responsible for housing.
Prohibition of sale 
in the public 
interest.
15. The Authority shall not agree to the sale under this Scheme
of a dwelling-house which, on the advice of the Minister
responsible for culture, should not be sold in the public interest on
account of its antiquity.
Right of refusal.
provisions of this Scheme, the Authority shall have the right to
refuse any application
TABLE A
(Clause 7)
TABLE B
(Clause 8)
First Column Second Column
Aggregate Annual Income of 
Applicant in Maltese Liri
Purchase Price of 
Dwelling-House
0 - 1,500 25% of the value
1,501 - 2,000 30% of the value
2,001 - 2,500 35% of the value
2,501 - 3,000 40% of the value
3,001 - 3,500 45% of the value
3,501 - 4,000 50% of the value
4,001 - 4,500 55% of the value
4,501 - 5,000 60% of the value
5,001 - 5,500 70% of the value
5,501 - 6,000 80% of the value
First Column Second Column Third 
Column
Fourth 
Column
8 ġ S.L.328.03
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) (PURCHASE 
OF GOVERNMENT DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
TABLE C
(Clause 9)
Category Aggregate Annual 
Income in Maltese Liri
Interests 
Payable by 
Applicant
Limit of 
loan in 
Maltese Liri
A 0 - 1,500 1.0% 4,000
B 1,501 - 2,000 2.0% 4,000
C 2,001 - 3,000 3.0% 4,000
D 3,001 - 4,000 4.5% 5,000
E 4,001 - 5,000 6.0% 5,000
First Column Second Column
Period in Years after Date of Deed of 
Sale with the Authority
Repayment of Subsidies, 
Deductions, etc.
less than 4 ........................................ 100%
4 or more but less than 5 ................... 90%
5 or more but less than 6 ................... 80%
6 or more but less than 7 ................... 70%
7 or more but less than 8 ................... 50%
8 or more but less than 9 ................... 30%
9 or more but less than 10 ................. 10%
