A policeman is renting out a cockroach-infested Sliema house to around 16 tenants in a flagrant breach of planning regulations. The tenants, which understands are mostly foreign workers, pay €250 each per month to share three bedrooms in the Norfolk Street house. Defending the letting, 22-year-old constable Gosef Tanti, who sublets the house, claimed he lets out the property to so many tenants to cover high rent and utilities costs.
He blamed the cockroach infestation – video footage shows hundreds of the pests crawling inside kitchen cupboards – on the tenants, accusing them of being “undisciplined”. Admitting he knew he was breaking regulations limiting the number of unrelated tenants to six per dwelling, Tanti said he did not think it was wrong, though he conceded it was “not fair”. He said that, although he started subletting the house because he “just wanted money”, he now considered the tenants “friends” and would soon move them to “luxurious” alternative accommodation in Gżira.
Meanwhile, the owner of the house claimed he knew nothing about the number of tenants staying there, saying he had not visited the floor housing the tenants since renting out the property to Tanti in November. Former tenant Emeka, who asked not to publish his surname, said he took a bed at the Sliema property after encountering financial difficulties while studying in Malta. He said he was attracted to the property by its low rent and “no deposit policy” but soon .