Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546198
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2026 LAW Lands Authority wins right to reclaim Riviera Martinique Land FOR decades, the Riviera Marti- nique Hotel in Għajn Tuffieħa has stood closed and deteriorating. Now, a condition buried in the contract under which neighbour- ing government land was granted more than 60 years ago, has en- abled the state to take that land back. This was held in a judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal on 5 August 2026 in Land Com- missioner vs NMF Limited. Appeals Court confirmed that the Lands Authority is entitled to recover a tract of land origi- nally granted for the extension of the hotel, after finding that a condition requiring the hotel to remain in operation continued to bind successive owners even after the annual ground rent was redeemed. NMF Limited had redeemed the perpetual ground rent in 2008. But redeeming the ground rent did not free the land from the conditions attached to the original concession. At the heart of the dispute was a 1960 emphyteutical concession which contained a simple condi- tion that if the Riviera Hotel re- mained closed to the public for one continuous year, or a total of 30 months over four years, gov- ernment would have the option to take the land back. The 1960 concession was made to Cristino Camilleri, who then owned the Riviera Hotel, specif- ically so that the hotel could be extended onto part of the govern- ment land. Camilleri was required to spend at least £1,500 on the ex- tension, while the agreement also gave government the option of terminating the concession if the works were not completed within five years. Importantly, the hotel and the land granted by govern- ment were not one and the same. The Riviera Hotel stood on sepa- rate land which had been acquired from government in 1929 and was privately owned. The 1960 concession concerned adjoining land, part of which was eventually developed into a restaurant and beach bar. Over the following decades, the land changed hands several times. Camilleri transferred it to Rivi- era Investments Limited in 1965, which in turn transferred it to Golden Sands Limited in 1978. In 1999, NMF Limited acquired the Riviera Martinique Hotel togeth- er with its surrounding lands. By then, however, the condition at the centre of the dispute had al- ready been breached. The judgment records that the last hotel licence was issued in 1986, while correspondence dat- ing back to 1985 informed the au- thorities that the hotel had closed. NMF maintained that the hotel had continued operating until 1988, but there was ultimately no dispute before the court that it had not operated as a hotel since at least that year. This meant that when NMF acquired the proper- ty in 1999, the Riviera Martinique had already been closed for more than a decade. The Court of Appeal found that this did not allow NMF to acquire the government land free from the obligations imposed almost 40 years earlier. In reaching that conclusion, the court invoked the legal principle nemo dat quod non habet (nobody can transfer more rights than they themselves pos- sess). Golden Sands Limited could therefore not pass the land on to NMF stripped of the conditions attached to it. The breach, moreover, did not end when NMF became the new emphyteuta. The court noted that the hotel remained closed well af- ter the 1999 acquisition and even after the Lands Department for- mally recognised NMF as the new emphyteuta in 2004. NMF nevertheless argued that government's own conduct mat- tered since the Lands Department had recognised it as emphyteuta without reservation and contin- ued receiving the annual ground rent, despite knowing the hotel had been closed for years. The company also pointed to its efforts to redevelop the site that repeat- edly ran into difficulties with the authorities. Planning applications had been filed over the years. One propos- al sought to demolish the existing hotel and construct a four-star ho- tel and beach bar, but was refused. Another outline permit was later issued for the demolition of the dangerous structures and replace- ment with a two-storey building incorporating a restaurant and multi-purpose hall. On 31 July 2008, the Commis- sioner of Lands took the matter to court, asking for the 1960 con- cession to be terminated and for government to recover posses- sion of the land. It was only after those proceedings were filed that NMF took the step which would become central to its defence. On 9 December 2008, the company redeemed the perpetual ground rent. NMF argued that the re- demption left it as the absolute owner of the land and brought the obligations arising from the em- phyteutical concession to an end. The Court of Appeal disagreed. The court explained that re- deeming the ground rent could not retrospectively make permis- sible what had already been done in breach of the conditions. More fundamentally, the court held that an emphyteuta could not rely on a redemption carried out after pro- ceedings had already been insti- tuted to escape the consequences of an earlier serious breach. The Appeals Court refused to treat the 1960 condition simply as a technical relationship be- tween two neighbouring proper- ties. Government had not simply transferred a parcel of public land for unrestricted use. It had grant- ed it so that the existing Riviera Hotel could be extended onto it, with the continued operation of the hotel forming part of that ar- rangement. The court stressed that the con- cession of public land had been granted for a specific tourism purpose and that the condition bound the owner both in relation to the land granted on emphyteu- sis and the adjoining site on which the hotel already stood. Crucially, the court said this obligation remained binding whether NMF held the site un- der perpetual emphyteusis or had subsequently become its owner through the redemption of the ground rent. The court also noted that the hotel had remained closed since at least 1988 and was in a dilapi- dated state. The court regarded the 1960 condition as a determining factor behind government's decision to grant the land in the first place. Its breach therefore went to the heart of the original agreement. Applying the principle of pacta sunt servanda, that agreements must be kept, the court conclud- ed that the continued closure of the hotel amounted to a breach of an essential contractual condition and justified the termination of the concession. The judgment makes a clear dis- tinction between the land which formed part of the 1960 emphy- teutical concession and the sep- arate land on which the original hotel had been built, which is pri- vately owned by NMF. The Lands Authority is entitled to recover only the former, while any rights NMF may have to compensation under the terms of the original 1960 contract remain unaffected. NMF would be entitled to the val- ue of improvements made to the land, subject to a ceiling based on the increase in value those im- provements had produced. The Appeals Court rejected all NMF's grounds of appeal and confirmed the first court's judg- ment in its entirety. The deed formally dissolving the emphyteu- tical concession and devolving the land is now set to be published at the Valletta courthouse on 26 Oc- tober 2026 at 10am. JULIAN MIFSUD Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates