How Should a Landlord Assess a Prospective Tenant from Nepal?

A tenant's nationality does not determine whether the person will pay rent on time, respect the property or comply with a rental agreement. Tenants from Nepal, like tenants from every other country, should be assessed individually.

A landlord should apply the same screening process to all applicants. Useful checks may include identity verification, employment status, regular income, affordability, references from previous landlords and the intended number of occupants.

For a foreign applicant, the landlord may request a valid passport or identity document and relevant residency documentation where this is legitimately required for the tenancy or its registration.

Employment may be verified using an employment confirmation letter, recent payslips or other reasonable evidence of regular income. The landlord should assess whether the proposed rent is affordable rather than relying solely on the applicant's occupation or nationality.

Previous landlord references can provide useful information, but landlords should verify that the person giving the reference is genuine. A lack of Maltese rental history should not automatically be treated as negative because the applicant may have recently arrived in Malta.

The landlord should confirm who will live in the property and ensure that every adult tenant is correctly identified in the agreement. The number of occupants must also comply with the property's lawful occupancy limit.

Any house rules regarding guests, noise, smoking, pets, cleaning, shared areas and utility payments should be explained clearly before the agreement is signed. Written communication helps where the parties have different first languages.

Deposits, advance rent and guarantors may be considered according to the landlord's normal policy, but requirements should be reasonable and applied consistently to comparable applicants.

Personal documents collected during screening should be kept securely and only for as long as legitimately necessary. The final decision should be based on objective rental criteria and documented evidence, not stereotypes.