Judge Wenzu Mintoff confirms judgement ordering PL eviction

Updated 2.45pm with PN reaction

Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff has ordered the Labour Party to vacate its club in Santa Venera within 40 days, upholding a decision by the Rent Regulation Board, which had found a breach of the landlords' rights.

The judgement was handed down after the judge asked both parties whether they wished him to abstain from the case - in view of the recent controversy after he wrote a scathing letter to the prime minister.  Both parties replied by expressing confidence in him. 

The property was requisitioned by the Housing Secretary in 1967 for the building of a road to Marsa. The road was never built and the club in 1973 was handed by the Labour government to the Labour Party. The PL paid an annaul rent of €382.  

The owners eventually sued, arguing that continued possession of the property by the Labour Party club was an abuse of power since the property had been requisitioned for a public purpose. 

The requisition order was annulled by a 2009 judgement, which also handed the landlords a compensation of €75,000. This was appealed and reduced to €60,000.

In 2022, the property owners were awarded a further €161,240 in compensation by a court after the tenants continued to pay a nominal amount of rent, breaching a lease agreement.

In both judgements, the courts found that the PL's tenancy was in breach of the landlords’ property rights.

However, until then, the landlords had not requested eviction.

On the basis of these judgements, the Rent Regulation Board in April last year upheld a request by the owners for the PL to be evicted from the property within 40 days.

That request was upheld on appeal by Judge Mintoff on Wednesday. 

The judge referred to caselaw and noted that while residents were protected when a property was their ordinary residence, that did not apply in this case. He also noted that the requisition had been declared null and the landlords had no alternative to stop the continued breach of their rights other than to seek eviction.  Financial compensation on its own did not amount to "just satisfaction" as also required by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Labour Party was ordered to pay legal costs.

Lawyers Edward DeBono and Nicholas DeBono assisted the landlords.

Abela will only be credible when PL pays court fines from own pocket: PN 

Reacting to the court's decision, the PN said in a statement that if he truly wanted to be believed that Malta came first for him, the prime minister should ensure the PL pays the fines that the court ordered the state to pay as compensation for the occupation of properties used as Labour clubs.

The fines should not be paid by taxpayers, it said. 

The Santa Venera case was only one in a series of injustices suffered by people whose properties were taken and used as Labour clubs, including in Birżebbuġa, Pietà, Lija, Żurrieq, Qormi and Paola, the Opposition said. 

"Now the owners of these properties are being forced into lengthy court cases in order to perhaps reclaim what is rightfully theirs under the law.

"These owners suffered great injustices for decades when Labour decided to take what belonged to them and occupy it for more than 40 years. Now it will be the Maltese people who will suffer another injustice when they will have to pay from their own pocket the fines imposed by the court because Labour seized people’s properties and turned them into its own clubs."

Robert Abela should immediately order the PL to pay for the injustices it committed, instead of placing the €1.6 million burden of these fines on Maltese families, it urged.