Foreigners made homeless despite paying €16,000 rent

Sixteen young foreigners were made homeless last week when they were evicted for not paying their rent, despite having paid more than €16,000 to a middleman. Nobody has assumed blame as the spokesman for the Paceville resort where they were staying said that contractual payments were not honoured by the German agent, who in turn threatened to open a court case against the hotel. The Sunday Times met six Dutch and German student interns yesterday, who said they each signed a contract with the company Malta Rooms and paid sums of between €950 and €2,115 to cover their deposits and rent for the duration of their stays. The interns, who arrived in Malta on different dates over the past few months, were placed by Malta Rooms in shared apartments at La Vallette Resort in Paceville. They were unaware of any problems with rent payments until they arrived back from work last Monday and found messages on their doors telling them to contact the manager. It turned out there was a dispute between Malta Rooms and La Vallette Resort. According to the interns, when they called the manager on Monday, they were informed that their rent for November had not been paid and if they did not pay it they...