Developers call for implementation of long overdue Budget measure

The Malta Developers Association today said it couldn’t understand why a measure announced in the 2014 Budget Speech has still not been introduced.

Last year, finance minister Edward Scicluna had announced a change in the system where the Inland Revenue Department sends its own architects to estimate the value of a property after a property transfer contract is concluded.

“Two weeks before government is presenting yet another Budget, the current situation is that the system, that was promised to be changed, has stayed the same for a whole year, with the injustices it causes for the buyer and seller of property,” the association said.

MDA added that it is informed that the draft Legal Notice that was meant to implement this measure has been ready for months but this has not been approved for publication due to bureaucratic obstacles.

“This is a cause of great concern, considering that it is the declared policy of the present administration to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that are slowing down the rate of economic progress that everyone hopes for.”

The MDA called on Scicluna to implement what was promised in the Budget Speech last year and to consider this step as a matter of immediate priority.