Responsible Owner in Malta

When you publish an advert to rent out a holiday home on VRBO, you must respect the relevant legislation in force. For the avoidance of doubt, please note that our site does not provide any legal advice on this topic and that the information below only constitutes general guidelines on the main requirements applicable in Malta accompanied by links that provide information on the applicable principles and obligations you may be required to respect.

Obligations for operating a holiday home in Malta (declarations, registration number etc.)

What is a holiday home?

On the VRBO help pages, we use the term “holiday home” as a generic definition that should not be regarded as a legal definition.

By holiday home, we mean any accommodation facility, property, or home that, according to the Malta Law fall under the category of “accommodation services”.

What are my obligations as an owner of a holiday home?

If you would like to host tourists by opening a holiday home, please be aware that you will be required to fulfil certain administrative obligations.

Below you will find some of the main obligations that you may be required to respect as an owner of a holiday home, however we recommend that you specifically check all the obligations applicable to you by visiting the official Malta website.

a) Obligation to get a license number

As an owner of a holiday home, you are required to register your activity and according to the Malta Travel Act to need get a license for touristic operations and to exhibit the license in a prominent place in his place of business.

For more information on how to get your license number and register your activity we invite you to consult this page.

b) Insurance coverage

To manage a holiday home, it might be necessary to take out an appropriate insurance policy that covers you for civil liability against guests, in proportion to the number of guests your accommodation facility can host, how many square meters it covers, and the type of property.

c) Stay tax

Remember that as an owner/manager of an accommodation facility, you may be required to collect and pay the tourist tax to your Municipality. For more information on the tourist tax please check your local laws and apply the correct stay tax rate to your guests.