Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/199842
€1.20 maltatoday YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT JOSEPH CUSCHIERI INTERVIEWED PGS 12-13 SUNDAY • 27 OCTOBER 2013 • ISSUE 729 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Our readers are reminded that clocks should be moved backward by one hour. Law preventing eviction of tenants upon expiration of pre-1979 temporary lease, is illegal says Constitutional Court LANDMARK RULING SAYS LAW PROTECTING TENANTS FROM EVICTION IS 'ILLEGAL' THE Court of Constitutional Appeal has confirmed a landmark ruling that found that the automatic conversion of temporary leases into rental agreements, is illegal: a decision that means MPs might have to legislate to give landlords the right to take back their property after the expiration of a temporary lease. The ground-breaking decision will be met with trepidation by tenants in rent-controlled houses, because it attacks directly the Housing Decontrol Ordinance, the 1959 law that allows tenants to permanently rent a house even after the expiration of the original lease. Under the law, tenants living in houses on a temporary lease retained the right to stay in these houses, and pay an annual rent equivalent to double the lease they paid. The law was introduced at the time as a way of providing some form of social housing – but the effect has been a legacy of paltry rents payable to landlords, with no chance of taking back their rightful property, and having to review rents only every 15 years. Lawyers Cedric Mifsud and Michael Camilleri, who submitted the constitutional claim on behalf of their clients, said the groundbreaking case had declared as unconstitutional a law currently used Migration: Muscat's claims of 'success' downplayed by PN CONTINUES ON PAGE 5 SINCE its inception MaltaToday has consistently opposed hunting in spring. Today MaltaToday is calling on its readers to support the campaign for banning spring hunting, which both the PN and the PL oppose. To do this a referendum needs to be called but not before the coalition collects thousands of signatures. MaltaToday is enclosing a petition which can be filled in by readers and others. It is one small way to take us to the next stage, a national referendum in May of next year. right to occupy a property which was not theirs, are now faced with a flawed legal basis for their right. This is also a wake-up call for the government to bring about much needed changes to the law, unless it wants to be confronted with numerous amount of claims for compensation." CONTINUES PAGE 14 Joseph Muscat in Brussels this week MaltaToday supports Coalition Against Spring Hunting Readers! Join us and sign the referendum petition INSIDE by many people in Malta to permanently reside in homes they had leased, to the detriment of the legitimate owners. "It is a so-called legal form of 'squatting'. People who have been deprived of their property, on the basis of an archaic form of social law, may finally see a glimmer of hope through this judgment," Mifsud and Camilleri told MaltaToday. "This is due to the fact that people who thought they had a permanent INSIDE: Saviour Balzan ............... 18 Stefano Mallia ................ 22 Claudine Cassar.............. 23 Evarist Bartolo ............... 24 Raphael Vassallo ............ 24 Teodor Reljic ................. 34 Malcolm Mifsud .............. 47 Robert Musumeci ........... 47 Sports ........................... 50 SEE PAGES 20,21, EDITORIAL PAGE 27 Newspaper post MATTHEW VELLA