Why are the real estate agents happy? They’re not going to get a crumb of it.

Published: January 27, 2014 at 10:11am

Henley & Partners has set up a real estate office for letting and sales, in anticipation of the sale of passports and its tied-in choice between renting a place for five years or buying one for Eur350,000.

Henley Estates Ltd – Head Office
Aragon House, Level 4
Dragonara Road
Saint Julian, Malta
STJ 3140

Telephone +356 2137 7514
Facsimile +356 2137 7515

Contact our Malta office
Andrew Taylor
Nadia Hau
Romain Weinstein

Somebody calls in to buy a Maltese passport. ‘May I also interest you in this lovely lease/flat? We can sort everything out for you, sir: rental or purchase. Just pick it off this brochure and no need to visit.’

I suppose it’s only a matter of time before they are arranging ‘fake’ leases on some potty flat for the mandatory sum, just to have the passport-buyer who can’t be fagged to come to Malta conform to the ‘rules’.




66 Comments Comment

  1. curious says:

    Malta kollha ta’ Henley & Something ukoll.

  2. Alexander Ball says:

    It’s weird how Labour go on about national interest, yet they don’t trust their fellow nationals.

    • Calculator says:

      And, come to think of it how much they go on about ‘standing up to foreigners’ and yet do their utmost to kiss up to dictatorships which are farther from us and supposed to be more foreign than Europe.

  3. T. Cassar says:

    Would be interesting to know who the properties on the brochure belong to.

  4. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Damn shame they haven’t set up a dating agency.

  5. B says:

    Nice work if you can get it.

    Let’s imagine: the same flat rented out to hundreds of different people…

  6. Kevin says:

    “I suppose it’s only a matter of time before they are arranging ‘fake’ leases on some potty flat for the mandatory sum, just to have the passport-buyer who can’t be fagged to come to Malta conform to the ‘rules’.”

    It isn’t a matter of time. It is more immediate than one would think.

    All Henley & Partners needs to do is set up a company that also contemplates, in its memorandum and articles, the sale of time-share.

    Apparently the IIP allows time share to count as rental.

  7. francesca says:

    Well I’m glad because all those estate agents who thought they would do better by voting for Joseph Muscat can enjoy their just rewards.

  8. Twanny borg says:

    X’jigri jekk wiehed jikri u jikser xi regola meta dan ikun diga’ gie moghti passaport? Jittihidlu?

    Jekk iva, allura jista’ l-passaport Malti jigi irtirat mhux kif qed jghid il-PL li darba gie moghti ma jistax.

    Jekk le, allura r-regoli mhux obligatorji ezempju wiehed attaparsi xtara prorpjeta u jbieghha wara sena.

  9. Den says:

    I don’t think there is a clause in the scheme which states how long one has to own the property. I guess it will be a (small) list of properties, that can be bought from one passport client to the next, while other passport clients are renting it… win on all sides.

    [Daphne – Yes, there is: five years.]

  10. It all Stinks says:

    There are actually two companies in Henleys’ web of companies involved in real estate:

    Henley Estate Holdings Ltd
    Registration Number: C64609
    Date of Incorporation: 30th May 2013.

    Registered office:
    Level 4 Aragon House, Dragonara Rd St. Julians. Hugh Trelawny Morsehead

    Shareholders:
    Andrew James Taylor Hugh Morsehead

    Directors:
    Hugh Morsehead
    Andrew James Taylor
    Michael Lucas
    Nadia Susan Lucas

    Henley Estates Iberia Ltd
    Registration Number: C60780
    Date of Incorporation:12th June 2013.
    Registered office:
    Level 4 Aragon House, Dragonara Rd St. Julians.

    Shareholder: Henley Estate Holdings Ltd
    Directors:
    Andrew James Taylor
    Michael Lucas
    Nadia Susan Lucas

    • La Redoute says:

      You missed the other one – Henley Estates Asia Ltd.

      • It all stinks says:

        So I did. Incorporated as recently as 27 December 2013. Looks like we will have to keep checking the registry for new companies. Details of this one:

        Registration number C63308
        Address as above
        Shareholding: Henley Estataes Holding Ltd
        Directors: Nadia and Michael Lucas

        The question also is Why so many companies? Is this one perhaps reserved for the properties to be sold/rented to the Chinese?

      • La Redoute says:

        Try looking up H&P Trust

  11. John zammit says:

    I think the authority responsible for warding off monopolistic practices and unfair competition should investigate.

  12. A. Charles says:

    The next line of business for Henley & Cohorts will be a travel agency with a sideline in haulage.

  13. QahbuMalti says:

    Talk about conflict of interest!

  14. Joe Fenech says:

    You’ve got to be a real sucker to believe that people are going to buy a Maltese passport to live in Malta and set up in business here.

  15. P Shaw says:

    Isn’t it obvious that the the EUR16,000 x 5 years rent will be base of ‘shell’ houses and ‘shell’ dwellings? Even a room or a garage will do as long as it has an adress or a street number.

    This EUR80,000 is just an additional income to the millions earned by Henley & Partners.

    They must have paid significant election campaign funds to hold the government by the balls, inless a portion of these funds will be rerouted to somebody in Castille.

    As usual, the Maltese associations (Chamber, realtors, etc) prove one more time, how idiotic they are.

    We have living under an administration where corruption is an official organ of the party, and yet they hope that by sucking up to the dictator, they might earn a few crumbs.

  16. ela2311 says:

    Perhaps they will be offering high-end apartments in Delimara overlooking Malta’s brand-spanking-new power plant. What a steal at Eur350,000.

  17. kram says:

    The Labour Party is in duty bound to explain to its supporters that if Malta were not an EU member state, the government would not be able to sell Maltese passports.

    In their confused state, they rant against the European Union and hope that Muscat will pull Malta out, but then praise him for coming up with the brilliant idea of selling ‘Maltese’ citizenship.

  18. Nuri Katz says:

    Daphne,

    They will also set up an investment fund so that the 150,000 euros investment in shares will go to into their fund and they will manage and make money off that fund.

    Your PM is creating multiple income streams for Henley, which is why he added the purchase of shares and the real estate to the investment.

    He must have felt that Henley was not able to make enough on using the 650,000 euros for up to two years, and decided to give them real estate and fund management.

    • It all stinks says:

      You are so right. And there is our PM saying he will not be servile to foreigners. There must be a personal interest of some sort for him to be bending over backwards in this way for Hugh Morsehead.

  19. si says:

    if an owner of a property in Malta is foreigner, would he be able to request that the rent from the lessee is paid into a foreign account?
    Are there loopholes to the effect that the rental charge may not reach Malta?

    [Daphne – Yes, and it’s not a loophole, but the law. People may receive their rent in whichever jurisdiction they please, for real estate owned in Malta. You can’t change that. It would be abusive. But yes, you are right on that score and we’ve discussed it on this website already: it doesn’t follow that because property is bought or rented in Malta, the money stays in Malta. If the seller/lessor is not Maltese and wishes to receive/transfer the money out of Malta, he or she is free to do so.]

    • Guzi says:

      Daphne, up to today anybody who has not resided in Malta for at least 5 years has to apply for an AIP permit to purchase a property in Malta, unless the property is in a designated area. One of the conditions in this AIP permit is that the property cannot be rented out.

      Let’s see if this condition is going to be changed or not to accommodate these new ‘Maltese’ citizens.

      • La Redoute says:

        Henley & Something already have that covered. They’ll broker a deal and then help transfer the cash out, earning a commission in both transactions.

      • La Redoute says:

        They will rent the property to clients who can’t or won’t buy and then they’ll sell the property to their next client as soon as they can. At every stage, they’ll earn commission on each and every transaction.

        Our PM is totally inept if he didn’t see it coming it coming. If he did and went ahead anyway, he’s beyond contempt.

  20. Jozef says:

    That’s easy, watch out for some luxurious development sold out on plan.

  21. J. Agius says:

    How convenient: a one stop shop, with everything from due diligence to selling or letting the property.

  22. Angus Black says:

    The cancer spreads.

  23. Rumplestiltskin says:

    You have to hand it to them: they think of everything. All bases covered.

  24. John Grech says:

    It seems that all the contacts are foreigners. PL’s slogan ‘Malta tal-Maltin’ bye-bye. One of them is probably Chinese.

  25. Osservatore says:

    May I rephrase your last paragraph:

    “I suppose it’s only a matter of time before they are arranging ‘fake’ leases on THE SAME potty flat for the mandatory sum, just to have the passport-buyer who can’t be fagged to come to Malta conform to the ‘rules’.”

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Against-Sale-of-Maltese-Citizenship/743546829003845

  26. cesare says:

    And the Association of Estate Agents were all behind the great leader, ghax let’s face it, Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox ghax Malta taghna lkoll.

    • Gaetano Pace says:

      It is about high time that the diction Malta l-Ewwel u qabel kollox should be costrued to read MALTA L-EWWEL, IMMA QABEL, KOLLOX. It goes well with these modern times.

    • Last Post says:

      Grazzi tal-link. Tal-mistħija. Dan l-istess partit li kien jgħid li l-Indipendenza kienet farsa għax l-Ingliżi żammew il-Marsa?

      Wara li taqra l-link taħseb li Malta ta’ Henley & Partners. Kif ma jistħix il-Gvern jarhom jieħdu l-iskema kollha f’idejhom. Jidher xi ħaġa simili fuq il-website tal-Gvern dwar l-iskema?

      Nista’ nimmaġina xi ‘due diligence’ se jkun hemm fuq l-applikanti. H&P għandhom kull interess ma joqgħodux ifettqu (ħa jdaħħlu sehmhom) u l-Gvern reħa’ r-riedni tal-iskema f’idejn H&P.

      Daqshekk hi tal-mistħija u oxxena din l-iskema. Mhux ta’ b’xejn ma ddiskutihiex mal-UE qabel.

    • Mister says:

      More obvious than this…

      The three core benefits when it comes to being a citizen of the EU are the rights to:

      freedom of movement within the EU;

      freedom to work and study within the EU;

      security within the social and legal system of the EU.

    • La Redoute says:

      ” as we can assist our citizenship investors who wish to rent into the properties purchased by our clients, the total sunken cost of acquiring citizenship can be reduced further when choosing the real-estate purchase option. “

  27. nostradamus says:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536408/British-passports-sale-Governments-migration-advisers-says-rich-foreigners-let-hand-money.html

    [Daphne – UK visas, not UK passports. A visa to the UK does not give you access to the rest of the European Union, and the UK is not in the Schengen area so you can’t move around Schengen purely on a UK visa.]

  28. La Redoute says:

    The company’s Malta-registered name is Henley Estates Holdings Ltd. It holds shares in Henley Estates Iberia Ltd. and Henley Estates Asia Ltd., both of which are registered in Malta too.

  29. pm says:

    I have to refer to Lino Spiteri’s comment piece in The Sunday Times. The last paragraph is particularly interesting.

    “Those who resort to falsehoods do not convince. They simply demonstrate that they do not have sound and convincing arguments to fall back upon.”

    He’s so right, though not in the way he intends. He said that the government included a modest amount of forecast revenue in the budget for 2014. Joseph Muscat is now saying OVER 1 BILLION euros. Is that a modest amount? I don’t think so.

    He mentions that other European countries already have a citizenship scheme. Really? Could he please tell us which countries those might be, which sell passports for cash?

    • Harry Purdie says:

      Over the past few years, I thought Lino was mellowing and coming to his senses, after the Mintoff years. and his rejecting of Sant.

      However, it now appears that the ‘Undercover Rampant Red’ has resurfaced.

      Sad, since he could have helped reign in his presently out-of-control party.

      • La Redoute says:

        Lino Spiteri was a write-off from the word go. He threw his lot in with the Labour Party. Enough said.

  30. So I see that Henley & Partners have taken the motto “Malta taghna lkoll” very seriously.

  31. Maradona says:

    They are true sharks.

  32. ray meilak says:

    Money-laundering galore.

  33. ray meilak says:

    Henley & Partners, car hire and leasing auto dealers, bank, pharmacy, panel beaters and sprayers, furniture.

  34. Zeza says:

    This below gives an indication to our beloved estate agents, who had welcomed the scheme with open arms, how they have been well and truly shafted.

    “On arrival to Portugal our expert concierge and real-estate team will introduce you to property options that hold a large geographic, environment and price-point diversity as you may prefer a property in the city, or at a beach resort in the Algarve. Henley Estates has a wide and varied qualifying portfolio to cover all of these situations, together with bespoke procurement and relocation services.”

  35. Chuzzlewit says:

    Who made the very first move, Henley and Something or the puppet-master in the MLP who stays in the shadows and just pulls the strings?

  36. Chuzzlewit says:

    All Henley and Something need now is undertaking/funeral parlour/hearse/crematorium business. . So if the IIP passport holder pops his clogs in Malta (highly unlikely as very few, if any, will physically set foot on this god forsaken island) he/she will get “cradle to grave” service .

Leave a Comment