The government has concluded negotiations to purchase the building occupied by the De Paule band club in Paola, Times of Malta can reveal.
Sources said the government had signed a promise of sale agreement with its owners after a long-fought legal battle to regain possession of the property that had been illegally taken from them for decades.
The figure that will be paid has not been disclosed.
This is the first acquisition of private properties currently leased or used by band clubs that are under threat of eviction.
It is the first concluded agreement by the unit set up within the Culture Ministry.
The Band Clubs Acquisition and Management Unit, managed by the Arts Council Malta, was set up last year "to ensure that the interests of the social band clubs, as well as those of the government, are safeguarded in the long term".
The unit is headed by James Pearsall, a former official of the General Workers Union and former chairman of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
The owners of the building occupied by the De Paule Band Club in Paola had won back repossession of the property in Paola Square in 2018, at the end of a long battle in the law courts which has been ongoing since 1997.
But following this judgment, the government intervened to protect the band club from eviction with a legal amendment.
However, this was quickly stopped in its tracks when the constitutional court ruled that the new law was “a clear abuse of power”.
Malta’s highest court ruled that the law also went against the principle of separation of powers, the most basic principle of democracy.
In June, Times of Malta reported that the government was in talks with the owners of 10 properties around Malta and Gozo as part of its efforts to avoid several towns and villages ending up without a band club.
The 10 were among 23 premises leased to band clubs that could fall under threat of eviction as a result of recent court rulings holding the old rent laws in breach of rights.
The government had said it intended to purchase the properties using funds from the golden passport scheme, through its investment holding company Malita Investments plc.
In January, Times of Malta said some of the band clubs to be purchased by the government were in Valletta, Ħamrun, Paola, Żebbuġ, Sliema, Birkirkara and Mosta.