In this guide
What does a housekeeper do in a Malta home?
Employ, use an agency or book per visit: which fits your household?
What does employing a housekeeper directly involve in Malta?
What can a Rozie cleaner cover, and what is outside the scope?
What belongs on your employer checklist before the first visit?
What does a housekeeper do in a Malta home?
A housekeeper in Malta usually covers four kinds of work: cleaning, clothes care such as ironing, kitchen and food tasks, and keeping the household organised. Cleaning is the core of almost every arrangement. Cooking, errands, childcare and live-in duties are extras that only a directly employed housekeeper normally takes on, so separating cleaning from everything else is the first decision a Malta household should make.
For comparison, the Austrian public employment service describes the same mix for private-household housekeepers in its AMS Berufsinformationssystem: vacuuming, mopping, dusting and window cleaning sit alongside household organisation. Malta has no equivalent occupational profile, so households here tend to agree scope informally, which is exactly where misunderstandings start.
In a typical Malta flat or terraced house, the cleaning side breaks down into bedrooms (beds, dusting, floors), bathrooms (limescale on taps and glass, toilets, showers), the kitchen (counters, hob, sink, floors) and living areas (dusting, vacuuming, tidying). Balconies and terraces collect salt and dust in coastal localities like Sliema, Gzira and Bugibba, and need their own slot. Before anyone starts, agree what equipment and products stay in the home: a detailed supplies checklist saves the first visit from turning into a shopping trip.
Employ, use an agency or book per visit: which fits your household?
Employing a housekeeper directly suits Malta households that need many hours a week and non-cleaning tasks like cooking or childcare. An agency suits households that want a company to handle staffing. Booking per-visit verified cleaners on Rozie suits households whose real need is reliable cleaning, without becoming an employer or paying an agency margin. The table below compares the three routes side by side.
Price references come from the DIER national minimum wage page and the Rozie cleaning cost guide for Malta. Rozie’s own breakdown of the three routes, with a checklist of what to verify before you book anyone, is in the guide on how to choose a cleaner in Malta.
Key takeaway: If nearly everything you need is cleaning and ironing, you probably need a cleaner, not an employee. Keep direct employment for households that genuinely need cooking, childcare or many fixed hours every week.
What does employing a housekeeper directly involve in Malta?
Employing a housekeeper directly in Malta makes the household a legal employer under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452). The household registers the employee with Jobsplus, pays at least the national minimum wage, handles tax and social security, and gives paid leave. Direct employment works well for long, fixed hours, but it is a real administrative commitment.
At a high level, three official sources set the frame:
- The law: the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, Cap. 452, on legislation.mt governs contracts, working time, leave and termination.
- Registration: Jobsplus guidance for household employers confirms that household employers submit engagement and termination forms for each household employee.
- Pay: DIER publishes the 2026 national minimum wage of €229.44 a week for whole-time employees, and sector rules can add to that.
The detail (PE numbers, the domestic service wage regulation order, bonuses, leave hours and the employee versus self-employed test) is covered in Rozie’s legal guide to hiring a cleaner in Malta, and the cost side of employing versus booking is in the guide to employing a cleaning lady or booking on demand. This article stays on the practical side.
For comparison, some countries treat housekeeping as a formal trade. Germany’s Hauswirtschafter training regulation lists 13 core professional competency areas, from nutrition to budgeting. Malta has no such qualification, so checking skills during a trial matters more here.
Rather not become an employer? If the job is cleaning, Rozie lets you post the request once, receive offers from verified cleaners within minutes and compare exact prices, without registering anyone with Jobsplus or running payroll.
What can a Rozie cleaner cover, and what is outside the scope?
A Rozie booking covers home cleaning in Malta: a regular clean, a deep clean, and listed extras such as ironing, inside the oven or fridge, kitchen cabinets, inside windows, balcony and terrace cleaning, and changing bed linen using linen you provide. Rozie cleaners do not cook, run errands, provide a laundry service, look after children, take live-in roles or restock supplies.
Most households book regular cleaning in Malta weekly or bi-weekly and add a thorough deep clean a few times a year. If you also let a flat to guests, the Airbnb and holiday-let turnover service follows the same offer-based booking, with your turnover notes added to the request.
What belongs on your employer checklist before the first visit?
A good employer checklist for household help in Malta covers six things: the scope of work, a trial visit, house rules, keys and access, limestone-safe products, and how feedback will be given. The same checklist works whether you employ a housekeeper, use an agency or book a Rozie cleaner, and it prevents most of the disputes that end household arrangements early.
1. Scope of work
Write the tasks down by room and by frequency: every visit, every month, a few times a year. Then write what is excluded. Our stress-free chores list and household cleaning checklist are good templates to copy from. For a Rozie booking, the same list goes into the request notes, so cleaners price their offer around exactly what you asked for.
2. Trial visit
Judge someone on one real visit against your written list, not on an interview. Check the places that are easy to skip: limescale around taps, behind the toilet, the top of the fridge. A trial with a directly employed housekeeper is still paid work, so check the legal guide first. On Rozie, your first single booking is the trial: if you like the cleaner, rebook them; if not, post the next job and compare new offers.
3. House rules
Put the small things on paper: rooms that are off-limits, how pets are handled, where shoes go, which surfaces are delicate, whether music or phone calls are fine while working, and what to do with things found under furniture. Rules nobody wrote down are rules nobody can follow.
4. Keys and access
Decide whether you will be home for the first visit (recommended), then whether you will leave a spare key, use a key safe or meet the cleaner each time. Note the block’s entrance code, which lift to use and where to park, which matters in tight streets in Sliema or Valletta. Keep a record of who holds a key, and get it back when an arrangement ends. With Rozie, access instructions go through the in-app chat with the cleaner, so they stay in one place.
5. Limestone-safe products
Many Malta homes have Globigerina limestone, marble or terrazzo, and all three are damaged by acids. Tell anyone cleaning your home: no vinegar, lemon or acidic descalers on stone, pH-neutral floor cleaners only. Malta’s hard water, supplied through the Water Services Corporation, leaves limescale on taps, glass and shower screens; acidic limescale removers belong on ceramic, chrome and glass only, kept well away from stone. Local stockists such as PAVI and Smart Supermarket carry stone-safe ranges from brands like HG and Lithofin. Some jobs are beyond routine cleaning: for comparison, sealed hardwood refinishing abroad is typically left to a professional floor specialist, and stone polishing in Malta works the same way. For a seasonal top-to-bottom pass, the room-by-room deep clean guide lists what should be included.
Pro tip
Leave the products you want used on the counter with a sticky note: “stone floors: this bottle only”. It takes ten seconds and protects a limestone floor that costs far more to restore than to clean.
6. How to give feedback
Agree how feedback works before anything goes wrong. With an employee, a ten-minute check-in at the end of the first two weeks works better than a list of complaints later. With Rozie, use the in-app chat for specifics (“the balcony doors were missed”) and leave an honest rating and review after the visit, which helps other households in Malta. Praise what was done well too: it is the fastest way to keep a good cleaner coming back.
Want the vetting done for you?
Rozie cleaners are verified before they can send offers, and every booking has 7-day payment protection. See how verification works in the guide to verified cleaners in Malta.
How much does regular household help cost in Malta?
Regular household help in Malta costs roughly €10 to €20 an hour from an independent cleaner and €15 to €25 an hour through an agency, according to the Rozie cleaning cost guide. A directly employed housekeeper costs at least the €5.74 hourly national minimum plus bonuses, leave and employer contributions. On Rozie, each cleaner’s offer shows the exact price before you accept.
The minimum wage figure is not the full cost of an employee: the legal guide explains the bonuses, allowances, leave and contributions on top. For hourly bookings, the page on hourly cleaning services in Malta explains how visit length affects the price. To budget, multiply the price of one visit by visits per month, then add a deep clean every few months.
Finding a reliable cleaner in Malta the traditional way often means scrolling Facebook groups, making phone calls, chasing quotes, and hoping the person who shows up actually does a good job.
Rozie was built to remove that friction. You pick a date, select the extras you need, and verified cleaners send you offers with exact prices before you accept. Every booking is backed by 7-day payment protection and professional liability insurance up to €1,000,000 per occurrence, underwritten by Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A., covering accidental property damage and bodily injury caused by cleaners during bookings. Rozie covers the deductible, so you pay no excess.
Here is the full booking process in under 60 seconds:
Compare Cleaning Offers on Rozie →
Need the cleaning done, not an employee? Post your checklist on Rozie once, compare offers from verified cleaners in Malta, and rebook the cleaner you liked. Before booking, these Malta cleaning guides answer most first-time questions.
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need a housekeeper or a cleaner in Malta?
If most of what you need is cleaning, ironing and the occasional deep clean, a cleaner booked per visit is usually enough. A housekeeper makes sense when you also need cooking, errands, childcare or many fixed hours every week, which in Malta means employing someone directly.
Do I have to register a housekeeper I employ directly?
Yes. Household employers in Malta submit a Jobsplus engagement form for each household employee and take on wage, tax, social security and leave duties under Cap. 452. Rozie’s legal guide to hiring a cleaner in Malta explains the steps in detail.
Can a Rozie cleaner do ironing?
Yes. Ironing is one of the extras you can add to a Rozie booking, along with inside the oven or fridge, kitchen cabinets, inside windows, balcony and terrace cleaning, and changing bed linen using linen you provide.
Do Rozie cleaners cook, run errands or look after children?
No. Rozie is a cleaning marketplace. Cleaners on Rozie do not cook, run errands, provide childcare, take live-in roles, run a laundry service or restock household supplies. For those tasks, a directly employed housekeeper is the right route.
Can I keep the same cleaner every week?
Yes. You book each visit when it suits you and can rebook the same cleaner you liked through the app, so many Malta households keep one cleaner for their weekly or bi-weekly visits.
What happens if something is damaged during a Rozie booking?
Rozie bookings are covered by professional liability insurance up to €1,000,000 per occurrence, underwritten by Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A., for accidental property damage and bodily injury caused by cleaners during bookings. Rozie covers the deductible, so you pay no excess.
Sources and comparison references
- HaushälterIn – AMS Berufsinformationssystem (Austria, for comparison)
- Ausbildungs-VO Hauswirtschafter (2020) – BIBB (Germany, for comparison)
