Planning Permits in Malta: What to Check Before You Buy
A Maltese property can have a clean title, a willing seller and a sensible price, and still be partly illegal. An extra room on the roof, a back yard that became a kitchen, a garage now used as a bedroom. Nobody necessarily hid these things. They accumulate over decades, and the buyer inherits them on the day of the deed.
That is why checking planning permits in Malta belongs before the promise of sale, not after it. Once you have signed and paid a deposit, a permit problem becomes something you have to negotiate around, rather than a clean reason to walk away.
What "legal" means for a Maltese property
Every building in Malta should match a permit issued by the Planning Authority, together with the drawings approved with it. The question is not only whether a permit exists. It is whether what stands today is what was approved.
Older buildings sit under a different rule. Structures that appear on the 1967 aerial photographs (1957 in the case of Gozo) are treated as legally established, because they predate the modern planning system. For a townhouse or a house of character, one of the first checks is whether the building, and every part of it, shows up on those photographs. A roof room added decades later still needs its own permit.
Where buyers usually find problems
The irregularities that surface in an ordinary sale are rarely dramatic. They tend to look like this:
- An additional floor or roof structure that does not appear on any approved drawing.
- A change of use inside, such as a garage converted into living space.
- A balcony enclosed in aluminium, or a facade opening that was moved or widened.
- A permit that was issued but whose conditions were never fully met.
- An enforcement notice the current owner has not mentioned, or does not know about.
Some of these are minor and fixable. Others affect what a bank is willing to lend against, or what you can legally do with the property later.
How to check planning permits in Malta
Planning applications in Malta are public. The Planning Authority's eApplications portal shows application details, decisions, site plans and approved drawings, searchable by case number (they look like PA/02073/16). Documents submitted from 1 June 2012 onwards are available online to eID holders, and older files can be viewed at the Authority's offices in Malta and Gozo.
Reading drawings against a real building is specialist work, though, and this is where your perit (a warranted architect) earns the fee. A perit compares the approved plans with what is actually built, checks whether permit conditions were met, looks for enforcement history and tells you plainly whether any difference matters. Your notary's searches focus on title, debts and registrations. They are not a substitute for someone walking through the property with the approved drawings in hand.
The compliance certificate
A compliance certificate is issued by the Planning Authority to confirm that a development was carried out in line with its permit. When applying, the owner's architect declares that the building as built conforms to the approved plans and conditions. Its main practical purpose is to allow permanent water and electricity supplies to be connected, which is why it matters most for new builds and recently finished conversions.
If you are buying a newly completed apartment, asking whether a compliance certificate has been issued is one of the simplest and most useful questions you can put to a developer. If it has not, ask why, and ask when.
Regularisation is a route, not a guarantee
If your perit finds something, the deal is not automatically over. Since 2016 Malta has had a regularisation framework that allows certain existing irregular development to be sanctioned against a fee, provided the works appear on the Authority's 2016 aerial photographs, do not harm amenity and conform with current planning policy. In 2023 the framework was extended to some buildings lying partly outside the development zone.
The operative word is "certain". The Authority can refuse a regularisation application, and a refusal leaves the owner exposed to enforcement. So when a seller says "it can be sanctioned", treat that as a claim to test, not a fact to rely on.
Writing it into the agreement
Your real protection sits in the wording of the konvenju. If anything is uncertain, ask your notary to make the sale conditional on the property being covered by valid permits, or on the seller obtaining regularisation before the final deed, with a firm deadline. Our guide to the promise of sale in Malta explains how those conditions work and why they decide whether you keep your deposit.
What you find can also shape the price. A roof room without a permit is not worth the same as one with a permit, and a sensible seller knows it. Bring your perit's findings into the conversation about value; our article on property valuation in Malta explains how that figure is built up.
A sensible order of operations
- Ask the seller or agent for the permit numbers as soon as a property makes your shortlist.
- Have your perit review the approved drawings and inspect the property before you sign anything.
- Agree price and conditions in light of what the perit finds.
- Write any permit-related conditions into the konvenju, with deadlines.
- Confirm before the final deed that every condition has actually been met.
None of this is slow if you start early. It only becomes slow, and expensive, once the deposit has been paid.
If you are viewing properties this autumn and want a second opinion on planning permits in Malta, or on anything else on your checklist, ask an agent at Sara Grech. Our team fields these questions every week, and we would much rather you raise them before you sign than after.
Frequently asked questions
Who checks planning permits when buying property in Malta?
Your perit (a warranted architect) is the right person to compare the approved drawings with what is actually built. Your notary searches title, debts and registrations, which is a different job. Most careful buyers use both.
Can I see the planning history of a Maltese property online?
Yes. Planning applications are public and can be searched on the Planning Authority eApplications portal by case number. Documents submitted from 1 June 2012 are online for eID holders; older files can be viewed at the Authority offices in Malta and Gozo.
What is a compliance certificate in Malta?
It is a Planning Authority certificate confirming that a development was carried out in line with its permit and conditions. It is mainly needed to connect permanent water and electricity, so it is especially relevant when buying a newly completed property.
Can unpermitted works be regularised before the sale?
Sometimes. Malta has a regularisation framework for certain existing irregular development, but applications can be refused. If regularisation is needed, make it a condition of the promise of sale with a clear deadline.