Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/392875
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2014 News 9 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The record- ings, made four years ago, were re- layed on One TV and maltastar.com in 2012 but the voice of or references to Cyrus Engerer were removed. At the time Engerer had left the PN over his disagreement with the party's stand on divorce, and offered his full backing and allegiance to the Labour Party, citing incompatibility with the PN and a great admiration for Joseph Muscat. He was a rising star in the Opposi- tion's ranks and a driver for Labour's gay rights agenda. He later ran for MEP in 2014 but just weeks before the election, he was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years, for the harassment of a former boy- friend through the dissemination of pornography, and computer misuse; he withdrew his candidature and in an emotional appearance at an elec- toral rally, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat dubbed him one of Labour's 'soldiers of steel'. The charges against Martin Debono and Bobby Calì were lodged during a highly-charged period for the Sliema council, under pressure over bribery charges against its then Nationalist mayor Nikki Dimech, which charges preceded the dissolution of the coun- cil. Calì, 67, and Debono, 55, were ac- quitted last week of misusing the council's funds to buy two laptops, and of misappropriating and damaging the laptops. Debono later said that he was arrest- ed by plain-clothes police officers and before being questioned, he was strip- searched. "They said it was procedure but they wouldn't tell me what I was being accused of," he had told Malta- Today. "I told the officers this was a frame-up intended to besmirch my good name," Debono said, claiming his ordeal at the hands of interrogators was unbefitting of somebody accused of using a coun- cil laptop for his personal use. MATTHEW VELLA JUSTICE Minister Owen Bonnici will be presenting legislative amend- ments to rent laws that were ruled unconstitutional by a court. The changes follow a decision by the Constitutional Court of Appeal, which confirmed that the Maltese government must change rent laws and allow property owners to take just compensation on pre-1979 rental agreements: namely, that the law that transforms temporary leases con- tracted before 1979 into permanent rental agreements, is contrary to the right to enjoy property as laid down in the European Convention of Hu- man Rights. "Following the judgments delivered by the Constitutional Court, an analy- sis of the judgment was effected and amendments drafted. The amend- ments are being discussed and will be proposed in the upcoming parlia- mentary session. A definite timeframe cannot be indicated at this stage," a spokesperson for Bonnici said. The spokesperson said that the amendments seek a "necessary" bal- ance between the opposing rights in- volved: on the one hand the rights of the owners and on the other hand the rights of the tenants. "Ideally such a balance would pro- vide a fairer deal for the owners while removing the uncertainty affecting the tenants and at the same time take into consideration the social impact. Finding this three-way balance is not at all easy but the government is com- mitting its efforts to seek the best so- lution possible in the circumstances," the spokesperson added. Specifically, it was Article 12(2) of the Housing Decontrol Ordinance – which allows a temporary emphyteu- sis to be converted into a permanent rental agreement – that was found 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 June 21, 1979, can be turned into a rental agreement. 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 in 1991. Originally, Bartolomeo and Giusep- pa Bezzina had leased out their Ghar- ghur property to Camilleri in 1974, for a period of 17 years. In 1991, Camilleri availed himself of the right accorded by the Housing Decontrol Ordinance, to keep renting the house he leased, with a marginal increase in the annual rent. The court said that the liberalisation of the rental market in 1995 was "a recognition that the country's social wellbeing did not require more pro- tection – yet no revision was provided for landlords who were denied the use of their property." The first court found that under present laws, the maximum rent that could 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 over 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". Bonnici seeks 'three-way balance' on outdated 1979 rent law 'From PN councillor to Labour soldier of steel' Amendments to tackle unconstitutionality of law that turns emphyteutical agreements into permanent rental contracts, to be proposed in upcoming parliamentary sitting Justice Minister Owen Bonnici