Tenants living in residential properties administered by the Joint Office are to receive the opportunity to claim full ownership of their home by redeeming the dwelling's ground rent.

Applications may be submitted as from October 1 and the scheme, which will only apply for residential dwellings, will remain open for an indefinite period for the time being, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg said. 

Owners of eligible properties will be able to redeem their ground rent by paying fees ranging from €1,500 (in cases when ground rent does not exceed €5) upwards. 

Redemption is based on certain conditions, including a provision that the property will still be used as a residence 15 years from the contract date. 

The Joint Office is responsible for the administration of the properties which were transferred to the government by the Church in line with a 1992 agreement.

Many of these properties came with temporary ground rent conditions, effectively meaning that once the rent period expired, the government could take possession of the property.

Dr Borg said the government expected thousands of families to benefit from the scheme.

Efforts were being made to ensure that applications would be processed in a “reasonable time”, he said, noting how in the past applicants of such schemes had been left waiting for up to 20 years.

More often than not, the main stumbling block would be that the property in question had never been registered with the Lands Authority.

A similar scheme was last launched in 2012. 

More details about the scheme as well as an application form are available online.

Ground rent for agricultural land

Dr Borg said that the government was also addressing similar issues related to the ground rent of agricultural land, through a legal notice published a few months ago.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius, who also addressed the news conference, noted that the scheme included safeguards to prevent these properties being used for speculation purposes.