'Opposition trying to please everyone'

Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg denied yesterday in Parliament that the Rent Reform Bill would lead to an element of neo-liberalism in new lease agreements. He said that although the government appreciated the opposition's overall approach to the Bill, it was running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, going against its own past pronunciations on principles and seeking to please everyone.

The government intended to accept some of the opposition's amendments in committee stage, but others would not be accepted.

Disagreeing with Dr Muscat's comments, Dr Borg said the Bill was a balanced one. It upheld the right of continuity not only for a surviving spouse but also for surviving children collectively. It also favoured siblings, with reservations. The government had consulted widely in order not to create injustices but at the same time pre-empt abuses that would never let the owner get his property back.

It was wrong for the opposition to say that the government was allowing only a short period of transition. Commercial leases were being left to run on for 20 years. The opposition needed to speak about practice, not theory. It could not run with the hares and hunt with the hounds, putting the onus only on the government. It was not true that there would be an element of neo-liberalism in new rent agreements.

Dr Borg said that with this Bill the government was also looking after the rights of those really needing protection. A PL document in August had said it was against any marriage that was not between a man and a woman, but now the opposition was charging that the government had forgotten same-sex couples in the Bill.

Did the PL now want to help same-sex marriages too? Was it advocating a cohabitation register? Did it want to help a person who decided to cohabit after being widowed?

Dr Borg made it clear that the government appreciated the opposition's overall approach to the Bill. Some of its proposed amendments would be accepted, but others would not. The Bill was as clear as possible, but of course there would continue to be conflicts because property costs money.

Dr Muscat had clearly been speaking to the gallery when he said that requisition orders were gone forever. This had happened only when the Nationalist administration of 1995 had deprived itself of the wide-ranging powers of requisition. On its part, the MLP had financed itself by abusing such orders, requisitioning private property that to date was still occupied as PL clubs.

The Nationalist administration had even been criticised in 1995; now it was being accused of championing the rights of owners.

Dr Borg said that the reform currently underway was balanced because it took into consideration both owners' and lessees' rights. The minimum rent of €185 euro for current residents would be increased by the rate of inflation every three years. This arrangement was absolutely fair, even though the government was being criticised for not being bold enough in favour of owners.

The government was seeking to protect not only owners but also commercial lessees, but there necessarily had to be limitations. A lessee's children could inherit the rent, but should those children benefit in this way even if they were well off with an income that was much higher than the owner's?

He said the Bill was not perfect, but the wide consultation that had taken place had even found the approval of the opposition, as Dr Muscat had said. The Bill was as just as possible.

Dr Borg said anyone could appreciate how just the Bill was even by its provisions about maintenance. Under the present regime, maintenance of rented dwellings was tantamount to a complete social service on the back of the private sector. There were thousands of owners who went into a state of panic whenever they received official letters from well-off tenants demanding maintenance works. The government had found the courage to say enough was enough, and whenever the owner did have to foot the bill for maintenance the rent should increase by six per cent. The concept of equitable renting was being cleaned up from decades-old cobwebs, but it would still be possible to go to the Rent Regulation Board, which was being given new powers and new resources to make long-running cases a thing of the past.

The Bill included provisions that the minister could make regulations about non-political clubs, but they would continue to be protected for the next two years under the outgoing law. Dr Borg said he himself believed that such protection should last as long as the time it would take to formulate the new regulations. It was a fact that not all such clubs needed the same level of protection.

He expressed the hope that the government would receive the amendments proposed by the opposition as soon as possible. After all, the government side would not have the luxury of six months to ponder the proposed amendments, as the opposition had been able to do with the White Paper.

The opposition should remember that it could not please everyone, not even from the opposition benches.

Other speakers will be reported tomorrow.