Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1468438
NEWS 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 MAY 2022 MATTHEW AGUIS THE European Court of Hu- man Rights has ordered the government to pay €169,000 in additional compensation to a baroness who had been unable to charge market rental rates over a Valletta property leased to Lombard Bank under the old rent laws, ruling that the Maltese Constitutional Court's award of just €80,000 for the breach of her right to private property had merely cemented her victim status. Agnes Gera de Petri Testafer- rata, the Marchioness of San Vincenzo Ferreri and Baron- ess of Qlejja, successfully sued the Maltese government in the Strasbourg court over an order issued in 1958 taking control of property she owned in Vallet- ta, which formed the annexe to the Manoel Theatre, subject to payment of annual compensa- tion. The applicant's property is sit- uated at 68 and 68A in Repub- lic Street, Valletta, currently housing Lombard Bank. On the lapse of the contract, the bank continued to occupy the prop- erty exercising its right to an automatic renewal of the lease by operation of the provisions of the special rent laws, namely The Reletting of Urban Prop- erty (Regulation) Ordinance by which it continued paying the same amount of rent which had been established in 1977, until 2009, when the rent started be- ing revised in accordance with the law. This is the fourth time Gera de Petri has received com- pensation over the lease of the property, having previ- ously been awarded €641,000 in compensation by a Maltese court of appeal for having been deprived of the use of the prop- erty between 1967 and 2007, as well as €25,000 in non-pe- cuniary damages in April 2011 when the European Court of Human Rights had found vi- olations of her rights to a fair hearing and private property. She was subsequently award- ed another €160,000 by the ECHR in pecuniary damages and just satisfaction in 2013 in connection with her being de- prived of the property . This was a far cry from the €6.6 million in damages Gera de Petri had originally request- ed in her application to the Eu- ropean Court of Human Rights. Gera De Petri then instituted further constitutional redress proceedings complaining of a violation of her property rights. By a judgement of 29 Novem- ber 2019 the Constitutional Court confirmed the first-in- stance judgement, which had found a violation of her rights and awarded her €80,000 in compensation. The court had noted that the tenant in the present case was not in need of social accommodation but operated a commercial bank; and that the economic needs of the country had developed with time. The applicant had already suffered a disproportionate burden for 12 years in the light of the low amount of rent, the Constitutional court had noted, but pointed out that a constitu- tional remedy was not intended to cover civil damage, but only losses in connection with the breach. A new lease agreement had also subsequently been en- tered into by the parties, noted the court. The baroness then took the case to Strasbourg, complain- ing that the figure awarded in compensation was too low, ar- guing that it constituted a con- tinued violation of her rights. In a decision handed down on 28 April, the ECHR upheld Gera De Petri's complaint, rul- ing that the amount of com- pensation awarded for a viola- tion persisting over a decade was not adequate and that the redress provided by the do- mestic courts did not offer suf- ficient relief to the applicant, confirming her victim status for the purposes of the human rights complaint. The European Court of Hu- man Rights, sitting as a Com- mittee composed of judges Erik Wennerström, Lorraine Schembri Orland and Ioannis Ktistakis, ruled that, as had al- ready been established by the domestic courts, Gera De Petri had been made to bear a dis- proportionate burden. Noting in particular that the award of the Constitutional Court has been paid, the Court awarded the baroness €160,000 in compensation for pecuniary damage and €4,000, plus any tax that may be chargeable on that amount, in respect of non pecuniary damage. The Court awarded a further €5,000 for costs and expenses before the domestic and European courts. magius@mediatoday.com.mt €169,000 for baroness in fourth compensation for Valletta property European Court of Human Rights orders €169,000 in additional compensation to baroness unable to charge market rental rates over Valletta property Agnes Gera de Petri Testaferrata has already been awarded €160,000 by the ECHR in pecuniary damages and just satisfaction in 2013 in connection with her being deprived of the property, a far cry from the €6.6 million in damages she had originally requested. She was previously awarded €641,000 in compensation by a Maltese court of appeal for having been deprived of the use of the property between 1967 and 2007 The ECHR ruled that the amount of compensation awarded for a violation persisting over a decade, was not adequate and that the redress provided by the domestic courts did not offer sufficient relief, confirming te owner's victim status