✅ Guidelines for First-Time Buyer Grants ✅
The Ministry for Finance and Employment has launched the following grant scheme, that aims to incentivise and assist first time buyers that purchase residential properties within Urban Conservation Areas (UCAs), properties that have been built for more than 20 years and have been vacant for more than seven years, as well as new properties that are developed in conformity with approved criteria as defined by the established guidelines and approved by the Board appointed by the Minister for Finance and Employment.
Eligible applicants will receive a maximum grant of €15,000 if the property purchased is in Malta and a maximum of €30,000 if the property purchased is in Gozo.​
The actual amount allocated will be established on a pro rata basis according to the share of the property being acquired.
Eligibility
The applicant must be a Maltese resident, who is a first-time buyer and officially recognised as being the owner of a private residential Urban Conservation Area (UCA) property, or the owner of a private residential property that has been built for more than 20 years and has been vacant for more than seven years, or the owner of a new private residential property developed in conformity with approved criteria as defined by the established guidelines and approved by the Board.
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The property for which the grant is being applied for must be the applicant’s first immovable property acquired inter vivos by the applicant and is acquired for sole and ordinary residence and which property is a privately owned residential property, purchased between the 12th of October 2021 and the 31st of December 2024. This grant applies to those that on the 12th of October 2021 were on a promise of sale (konvenju) and had not yet closed the contract.
To be eligible for the grant, applicants must also have first registered their deed or acquisition of property through their notary with the Office of the Commissioner for Revenue and have submitted legal proof and a declaration that they are first time buyers and that this is their first immovable property acquired inter vivos.
20/7 Vacant Property and Properties in UCA
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Private residential Urban Conservation Area (UCA) properties or private residential properties that have been built for more than 20 years and have been vacant for more than seven years, applications under this scheme should be submitted by not later than three months from the purchase of the property as evidenced by the date on deed of acquisition of property.
​Property developed in accordance with established guidelines
When it comes to owners of new properties, they can only apply for the grant once the property is built and finished as defined by the established guidelines and approved by the Board established by the Minister for Finance. The guidelines will include information on the expected aesthetical overview of the property as well as green credentials.
The guidelines and the application portal for this incentive will be online in December 2021.
A property that benefits from the grant cannot be divided, whereby the number of residential units shall remain the same. If the property subsequently re-developed into separate residential units or deviates from the parameters as established in the legal notice, the applicant will have to refund the full amount of the grant paid to them under this Grant.
Payment of Grant
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​The grant will be credited to the applicant in a bank account that is indicated in the application.
