Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2014 4 News MATTHEW VELLA A new decision by the Court of Con- stitutional Appeal has brought re- newed certainty to landlords' claims that the Maltese government must change rent laws and allow property owners to take just compensation on pre-1979 rental agreements. The court case has reconfirmed that Malta's law turning temporary leases contracted before 1979, into permanent rental agreements, is contrary to the right to enjoy prop- erty as laid down in the European Convention of Human Rights. The appeals' decision confirmed a ruling by the civil court in its consti- tutional capacity, which found Arti- cle 12(2) of the Housing Decontrol Ordinance – which allows a tem- porary emphyteusis [Maltese: cens temporanju] to be converted into a permanent rental agreement – to be "inconsistent" with the European Convention of Human Rights. Although the Civil Code gives land- lords the right to reclaim their prop- erty upon termination of a lease, in 1979 the government passed a law to protect tenants so that – under the Housing Decontrol Ordinance – any lease of up to 30 years contracted be- fore 21 June 1979, can be turned into a rental agreement. But the Court of Constitutional Ap- peal has also declared that govern- ment and legislators remain "inert" to the illegitimacy of the Housing De- control Ordinance, which keeps rents artificially low and landlords unable to take their just compensation. Lawyers Cedric Mifsud and Michael Camilleri, who submitted the constitutional claim on behalf of their clients, said the judgment reaf- firmed the position of the Constitu- tional Court of Appeal in a previous ruling. "The court also pointed out that it does not have a legislative role and it is up to the government to remedy an unconstitutional law. In light of these recent judgments we again call upon the government to remedy this breach at its earliest or else be faced with more similar judg- ments." The decision confirmed the first court's ruling that tenant Carmel Camilleri could not keep availing himself of this law to rent a property at just Lm90 (€225) a year, after the lease terminated back in 1991. Origi- nally, Bartolomeo and Giuseppa Bez- zina had leased out their Gharghur property to Camilleri back in 1974, for a period of 17 years. In 1991, Camilleri availed himself of the right accorded by the Housing Decon- trol Ordinance, to keep renting the house he leased, with a marginal in- crease on the annual rent. The court made reference to court rulings that acknowledge that the liberalisation of the rental market in 1995 was "a recognition that the country's social wellbeing did not require more protection – yet no revision was provided for landlords who were denied the use of their property." The heirs of the Bezzinas said the law was preventing them from their right to enjoy their property as laid down in both the Maltese Constitu- tion and the European Convention of Human Rights. The first court found that under present laws, the maximum rent that cold be asked for the property in question was just €837 a year, when in reality its rental value was as much as €7,800 a year, or €650 a month. Although the decision does not mean that landlords can evict tenants indiscriminately, the court ordered the Attorney General to liquidate €10,000 in damages to the landlords, for loss of earnings throughout the years. But the appeals court said that sim- ply liquidating damages to the land- lords was not enough: "this court would be effectively allowing the prolongation of a state of anti-con- stitutionality, that would require the applicants to periodically file for just compensation from one sentence to the other". Both the Constitutional Court and the Court of Constitutional Appeal referred to the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Amato Gauci versus Malta of 2009. In the Amato Gauci case, the ECHR said that although governments were better placed to appreciate what is in the "general or public interest" – in this case Malta's housing needs – a fair balance had to be struck between the demands of the general commu- nity, and the protection of an indi- vidual's fundamental rights. Given the low rent payable in the Amato Gauci case, the European Court said that the Maltese govern- ment had "failed to strike the req- uisite fair balance" and awarded the landlord compensation. Courts reconfirm 'illegitimacy' of Maltese rent laws EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING CORPORATION IF 03-2012 Integrating TCNs in the Maltese Society CALL FOR INDIVIDUAL TRAINING SERVICE PROVIDERS The Employment and Training Corporation is issuing a call for: The Provision of Training Services for the delivery of courses through the IF 03-2012 Project - Integrating TCNs in the Maltese Society, which LVSDUWO\¿QDQFHGIURP(8)XQGVDQG1DWLRQDO)XQGV Ref: ETC/CS/IF/01/14 $VRIWFRS\RIWKHGRFXPHQWFRQWDLQLQJWKHTXDOL¿FDWLRQUHTXLUHPHQWVRI trainers required to deliver the service, as well as the course subjects for which trainers will be contracted for may be downloaded from the Employment and Training Corporation's website: www.etc.gov.mt. Interested providers are kindly asked to submit their CVs together with other requested documents in this call by registered mail or by hand addressing it as follows: The Project Leader, IF 03-2012 Integrating TCNs in the Maltese Society, The Training Complex, Hal Far BBG 3000, Malta Applications are to be received by not later than 12:00hrs of Tuesday 11th February 2014. General Programme Solidarity & Management of Migration )ORZV± European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals (IF) &R¿QDQFLQJUDWH(8)XQGV1DWLRQDO)XQGV Sustainable Management of Migration Flows