Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443447
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 JANUARY 2022 15 LAW CLASSIFIEDS HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION MARSALFORN, Gozo - holiday apartments for short or long lets with magnificent sea-views. Call 21556021, 27556021, 79426883 PROPERTY TO LET XLENDI - catering premises in prime site to let. Can be used for other commercial purpos- es. Phone 79493021, 79426883, 77481592 or 77484029 PROPERTY FOR SALE SAN GWANN - Close to all amenities and located in the com- mercial district is this 3 storey OFFICE BUILDING. Presently arranged in open plan layout on each floor, complimenting this there are a number meeting rooms. Each floor has a balco- ny and toilet facilities, with the 3rd floor having a front terrace overlooking the main street and the back balcony with country views. Although the property is currently being used as offices, there is the possibility of convert- ing to two apartments and a pent- house with terrace. The property is being offered freehold. Asking price: €760,000. Call on:79899838. SAN GWANN- Open plan 190sqm, ready to move into designer finished second floor apartment in a central quiet street forming part of a block of 5 apart- ments. Two double A/C bedrooms and 1 single A/C bedroom, two bathrooms, lift, double glazing doors and windows. Direct from owner €350k inquire on 79402244. TARXIEN - Larger than usu- al first floor duplex maisonette. Three bedrooms; double glazed windows; inverter air condition- ers including solar water heater. Being sold furnished. Own air- space with possibility of further development. Contact owner on 99912005/99450639. SERVICES NEWSPAPER adverts - Book & pay on-line on www.perfecta.com. mt - no extra charges. Call on 21322452 SITUATIONS VACANT SIGNAL 8 - Signal 8 Security Malta Ltd. requires filling posi- tions as Customer Care Clerks, Security Guards, security for plac- es of entertainment and cleaners. Applicants should be customer care orientated, smart and flexible for shift work. Email your CV to hr@signal8securitymalta.com.mt ROOM ATTENDANT - required to work in a luxury boutique in Naxxar. Full time, flexible hours on a roster system. Must be fluent in English. Call The Village Hotel Ltd on 99885352 for more info WANTED COLLECTIBLE items such panini albums and loose stickers, old postcards and posted envelopes, medals, militaria, coins and paper money, books, toys, stamps, badg- es, paintings, gold & silver items etc. Call on 21310238, 99246632. RECENT amendments to the Civil Code confirm that the Civil Courts have jurisdiction to de- cide on whether a lease agree- ment is valid or not. This was de- cided on 10 January 2022 by the First Hall of the Civil Court pre- sided by Mr Justice Toni Abela in Ronnie Camilleri -v- Abdalhady Hamood. In this case, the Applicant, Ronnie Camilleri filed an appli- cation before the Rent Regula- tion Board. Camilleri explained that in 2018, he had rented a property to Hamood for 20 years. Article 1531A(1) of the Civil Code lists the elements which must be included in a lease agreement, which include the address of the property, the scope of the lease, the lease peri- od and whether the lease may be extended and the amount of the rent. Camilleri is claiming that the use of the property was not specified and that the amount of the rent was also missing in their lease agreement. He asked the Board to declare the lease null and void. The Rent Regulation Board (RRB) held that the validity of the lease agreement was some- thing that the Civil Court had to decide, and it was not competent to decide this issue and ask that the acts of this case be sent to the First Hall of the Civil Court. The First Hall of the Civ- il Court issued a decree on 12 November 2020, in which it made reference to Article 16 of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance, which states that issues on the validi- ty of a lease agreement must be decided by the Civil Courts and not by the RRB. This is a 2019 amendment to the Ordinance. The lease agreement subject to this case was signed in Septem- ber 2018. A new law is retroac- tive, only when it specifies this and the Court held that since the agreement was signed prior to the amendments, then the old law should apply. In fact, Article 39(5) of the Third Schedule of the Civil Court, stipulates that the RRB should decide on all issues con- cerning rents contracted after 1 January 2010. The Court quoted from a Court of Appeal judgement de- livered on 25 January 2019, Cane Camilleri -v- Josephine Micallef where the Court held that it is the RRB which is competent to see whether all the requisites listed in Article 1531A of the Civil Code exist in a lease agree- ment. Therefore, the Court de- cided it is not competent to de- cide this issue but referred the matter to the Court of Appeal to give a final ruling. The Court of Appeal did so on 26 November 2020 and held that the Civil Court is competent to decide the issue of validity of a lease agreement. The Court of Appeal reasoned that the 2019 amendments also amended Article 1525 of the Civil Code which stipulated that the Civil Court is competent to decide on the validity of lease agreements. The First Hall of the Civil Court then moved to decide on the va- lidity of the lease agreement. The Court held that when the law stipulates on the form that is to be used, with the pain of nullity, then if it results that that form was not adhered to, then the Court is bound to declare that the agreement is null. This was also held in Deidre Cachia -v- Gaba Diamonds Company Limited decided by the First Hall of the Civil Courts on 8 Novem- ber 2000 and Vella -v- Carroll decided by the Court of Appeal on 12 June 1944. The Court examined the con- tents of the agreement between the parties. The agreement does not establish the amount of rent, but the tenant has to carry out extensive works in the proper- ties belonging to Camilleri. Article 1623 of the Civil Code reads: "A contract of letting of work and industry is a contract whereby one of the contract- ing parties binds himself to do something for the other, for a reward which the latter binds himself to pay to the former." The Defendants obligation to carry out works in the proper- ties of the Applicant amounts to a contract of letting of work and industry and therefore this is payment for the concession given by the Applicant. The fact that there is no exchange of money means that there is an exchange as per Article 1485(1). This article of the Civil Code explains that an "exchange is a contract whereby the parties mutually bind themselves to give to one another a thing, not being money". The Court concluded that this agreement is a sui gen- eris agreement where the law does not provide for and there- fore one must apply the general law. The Court also quotes from Article 1533 of the Civil Code which states: "(1) The rent may be either in money or in kind, or even in a portion of the fruits produced by the thing" Since there is not value men- tioned in the agreement, it can- not be interpreted as a lease. It would be impossible for there to be termination of a lease on the ground that the tenant did not pay the rent as provided in Arti- cle 1570 of the Civil Code. The Court concluded that the agreement is not a lease agree- ment, but a sui generis agree- ment and it was not based on Article 1531A of the Civil Code. The Court then moved to reject the claim the agreement was null and void. Civil Courts bound to decide on the validity of lease agreements LAW REPORT MALCOLM MIFSUD Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates CLASSIFIEDS INFO @MEDIATODAY.COM.MT