Government by Henley & Partners: the latest news
One of Malta’s foremost real-estate agents has just rung me to say that Henley & Partners has handed him a contract specifying that if those who buy Maltese citizenship buy or rent real estate from his company, he is to hand over to Henley & Partners EIGHTY PER CENT of his commission.
“I have spoken to other real-estate agents and they have received this contract too,” he told me.
“We are expected to give Henley & Partners 80 per cent of the commission legally due to us, when we broker the sale or lease of property to IIP applicants.”
Henley & Partners set up its own real estate agency in Malta last year, well ahead of the parliamentary vote on the sale of citizenship, and in anticipation of it.
The information was reported first on this website. The fears of Maltese real estate agents that Henley & Partners would monopolise the IIP property sale/lease market were allayed when Henley & Partners said that other agents would be free to broker sales and leases for IIP clients.
There was bound to be a catch somewhere. That catch has now materialised: yes, Maltese and other agents are free to deal with IIP clients, but they must pay Henley & Partners 80 per cent of what they earn.
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Government by Mafia, more like it.
I hope this is just a joke, albeit one in very bad taste, for Carnival.
It cannot be for real.
I do not think that these estate agents can be forced to give them any percentage. Obviously they will be taking legal advice.
Can this possibly be legal? It looks and smells like extortion to me.
How can they claim the right to that share of the sales commission?
Not to mention that the conflict of interest already arising out of the commission they get for approving IIP applicants is further magnified by this share of property sales commission they are expecting to be paid.
Is this legal? Isn’t this against the spirit of EU Competition and Anti-Trust law?
It has been since the very beginning.
Wasn’t what you report here already predicted on this website?
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/02/will-maltese-real-estate-agents-get-a-look-in-with-henley-partners-controlling-the-citizenship-market/
“Anyway, Henley went to all the developers in Antigua and tried to strong-arm them into exclusive arrangements with them for 15% or more commission, with advance payments. Same thing, I am sure, is going to happen in Malta, or is already happening, and the developers will agree and cut out the local realtors completely, as they will have no choice.”
I understand that such agreements are classified as cartels and are illegal. H&P’s behaviour may also possibly constitute abuse of dominant position.
So, Malta’s real estate sector has been ‘Carribbeanized’.
Henley & Partners have engineered a Mediterranean fiefdom for themselves and their robber-baron practices.
I can’t say I have any sympathy. It’s not like we couldn’t see this coming. The difference is some expected to make money out of this and preferred to sit on the fence.
Bil-barka u/jew ftehim mal-Prim Ministru Joseph Muscat.
http://i60.tinypic.com/33ogvti.jpg
Meanwhile in Rome, Cyrus Engerer, his boyfriend and co-worker in Louis Grech’s ministry, Randolph Debattista, and Alessandra Pace, who also works for the deputy PM, are taking selfies at the Colosseum because Matteo Renzi took a raincheck on his meeting with Joseph Muscat and their boss.
What a sandwich.
And Ms Pace has the audacity to call one journalist who had to resort to stopping in front Muscat’s car on his return from a football match (when there were proceedings against Simon Busuttil here which he initiated) a “c**t” on Facebook. Sheer class, these free-loaders have.
I’m sorry but I don’t empathise with the estate agents. They were a strong lobby working against the Nationalist Party and Gonzi’s government, thinking that Joseph Muscat will reward them by amending regulations to do with the residency scheme.
The writing was on the wall when it was announced that Henley & Partners had formed their own real estate agency. This is what happens when you get into bed with the Labour Party.
I couldn’t agree more. A political position based on principles is infinitely preferable to one based on expediency. Some only learn this the hard way.
Totally agree with you there – getting what they deserve. Too bad.
So, let me try and figure this out – Henley & Partners impose a commission that has not been agreed on. In that case, it becomes a law or else ‘pizzo’ (extortion mafia style).
Get them out at once. They are literally robbing us.
Hand commission over, on what legal basis?
And what does Sandro Chetcuti think of the IIP investment now?
[Daphne – Sandro Chetcuti sells his own real estate, not other people’s. The commission element doesn’t come into it.]
Everything done in the spirit of treating Malta as a banana republic.
How are they allowed to do that?
Maltese real estate agents supported the sale of citizenship because they thought they could make money from it. Now they’re annoyed because they realise they will be working for Henley & Partners on a 4:1 commission ratio.
Well, tough. What did they expect. The moral of this story is the same old one: never trust a wolf dressed as grandma.
To quote Franco Debono, but this time to those estate agents who lobbied so hard for the IIP scheme and who voted for Muscat because we needed a change: “Hudu go fikom”.
If President Aliyeva had to apply for a Maltese passport as the main applicant, paying Eur650,000 for himself, Eur50,000 for his wife, and Eur25,000 each for his two sons and one daughter, are they likely to pass the due-diligence test?
The final decision rests with the minister.
Aliyev has one son, not two: 15-year old Haydar is Aliyev’s son; 31-year old wannabe rock star Emin is Aliyev’s son-in-law.
That is what they do, all over. As I said before they OWN the clients, because the government of Malta has given them on an exclusive on those clients.
Considering the situation, I am actually surprised that Henley is offering as much as 20% to the Maltese agents.
I told you this would happen. But this is just one small part of the whole fiasco of this program.
They will also OWN all the investments in the stocks and bonds. I guarantee you that they will set up a special purpose vehicle to manage those investments and generate fees for themselves only. The Maltese financial service providers will get no part of these investments – none.
Henley seems to have successfully taken the Maltese government and prime minister for a nice long ride to the bank.
I just don’t understand why this is happening and why Prime Minister Muscat is not embarrassed. Or does he just not understand what he is doing? I could explain it to him in ten minutes, if he gave me that ten minutes.
Good luck.
You don’t get it. They want the money kept with Henley ON PURPOSE. It don’t take a genius to figure out why.
Muscat is unembarrassable. Embarrassment is the province of the principled, not the unscrupulous.
You miss the point completely.
The Maltese government and prime minister are being taken on no ride by Henley. There is nothing embarrassing here for PM Muscat.
Henley and Partners is simply a convenient front for the PL.
Henley will only get a meagre commission. The hundreds of millions are obviously going elsewhere.
I know of a few estate agents who boasted that they were going to vote for Muscat. Well serves them bloody right.
Will they sign the contract, though? They should definitely bring the situation to the attention of the general public. You know, for the more dim-witted to realise how much they’ve been duped.
You can’t fix brainwashing
I understand this is not the point here, but the basic tenet of a contract is that the second party agrees to the terms of the offer.
[Daphne – I think everyone knows that. And you’re right, it’s not the point. The point is that if real-estate agents don’t sign that contract, they will get no IIP client referrals from Henley & Partners. So they may well conclude that 20% of something is better than 100% of nothing.]
Dal-gvern jghid hafna u jaghmel il-kontra.
Funny how Sandro Chetcuti is saying nothing. Does he have to pay 80% of his commission to Henley too – or is he selling his property direct?
Chetcuti develops his own property. He sells it directly and through estate agents.
Hate to say it but serves the estate agents right. Their association was one of the first to endorse the sale of Maltese citizenship scheme, declaring it’ an excellent idea for their business. Now they know, Henley and something have the full monopoly.
In the meantime Henley are also creaming 200,000,000 euro off the top from government.
Truly they can say li Malta taghhom biss.
Some mattresses are more equal than others. Some mattresses contain half a million euros in cash.
Too late. Never mind.
Truly shocking. Will we hear about this in mainstream media or is this something caught by the statutory muzzle on IIP information (or the informal but probably harsher Emperor Muscat muzzle)?
Real-estate agents should boycott Henley & partners and any property developers who engage them.