The Opposition said on Tuesday that it was voting in favour of the bill to regulate a reform of pre-1995 rents, but it was 'greatly disappointed' that none of its proposals to simplify the reform had been taken on board by the government.

The reform was introduced by the government after the Constitutional Court in several judgements said that the rights of the landlords were being broken by unjustifiably low rents, and it authorised eviction orders.

In terms of the reform, tenants will be able to continue to live in their rented premises but landlords and tenants will go before the Rent Regulation Board which will decide on a fair rent. In most cases, the balance between the old rent and the new one will be paid to the landlords by the government.

Shadow Minister Ivan Bartolo said before the final vote on the bill that as a result of government intransigence, some 10,000 tenants will end up going to court (the Rent Regulation Board) probably for many years, until a fair rent is established. This meant uncertainty for tenants and landlords.

The Rent Regulation Board currently only averaged 130 decisions a year, Bartolo said, but it appeared that the government was in favour of this process instead of others, such as arbitration, because the longer it took for a fair rent to be established, the lower the government's eventual outlay would be.

With regard to the government subsidy, which will be based on a means test, the opposition had suggested that this should be carried out by the Housing Authority to ease the burden on the Rent Regulation Board, but this suggestion was ignored too.  

Bartolo said an opportunity for a proper reform was being missed and he feared this issue would end up before the Constitutional Court once more.

Housing Minister Roderick Galdes said the government was proud of the reform and no real alternative to the Rent Regulation Board had been offered as a mechanism to actually establish a fair rent. 

The issue of pre-1995 rents had been ignored by former governments which had not been prepared to issue even a cent to try to solve it. The government, he said, had confidence in the Rent Regulation Board and the other institutions.