Valletta bar operator ordered out of Labour Party club
Rent Regulation Board gives operator 21 days to vacate the Republic Street premises
A bar operator has been given three weeks to vacate the Labour Party’s club on Valletta’s Republic Street.
The operator was told to leave by the Rent Regulation Board, which found he had failed to pay rent or utility bills for nearly two years.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Magistrate Joseph Gatt ordered Ian Zammit to pay the Labour Party over €24,000 in arrears and vacate the bar area within ‘Dar Dom Mintoff’ at 41/2 Republic Street.
The case was led by the Labour Party and its Valletta committee.
Zammit entered into a lease agreement to operate the bar within the Labour każin in March 2019. The relationship soured in July 2024, when the tenant stopped paying rent.
Evidence presented to the board showed that the Labour Party had been forced to settle utility bills with ARMS Ltd itself to prevent the club’s utility services from being disconnected. The party used a €500 security deposit that Zammit had paid, but that was insufficient to cover the mounting debt, the board noted.
Claimants also alleged that Zammit had carried out unauthorised structural changes to the Republic Street property, including creating an opening into an adjacent third-party building without permission.
During the proceedings, Zammit attempted to challenge the Labour Party’s legal standing, questioning whether the party actually owned the building in question.
However, Magistrate Gatt dismissed this line of defence as irrelevant to the rental dispute.
The board ruled that in lease agreements, the person granting the lease did not necessarily need to be the legal owner of the property to enforce a contract.
Citing established jurisprudence, it noted that as long as a contractual relationship exists, the tenant cannot withhold rent by questioning the landlord’s underlying title.
Zammit’s case was also hampered by his failure to file his defence within the stipulated time period. The delay meant that he was placed in a state of legal default.
The final bill presented to Zammit includes €23,400 in unpaid rent and a further €738.12 in electricity and water bill payments. Zammit was given 21 days to clear the premises.
Lawyer Elaine Degiorgio represented the Labour Party.