Owners have rights too

I would like to refer to the report under the heading European Court Finds for Kirkop Band Club and Calls for Retrial (August 3). The premises in question have belonged to my family for several generations. Three separate units were taken from us.

The first was requisitioned in 1955 and, since then, the Housing Department has been paying a pittance, yearly, which will not even cover the cost of a meal for two. In 1986, the Housing Department entered into the other two units, consisting of a garden and another house. All the furniture was removed without notice.

Following our complaints, the premises were requisitioned, and an attempt was made to serve the order on our father who had by then been dead for seven years.

Following legal proceedings, on October 9, 1991, the First Hall of the Civil Court held the requisition of the garden to be void but not that of the house. We filed an appeal and the Court of Appeal decreed that the whole requisition order was void as it was made without due authority and constituted an abuse of power. From this last judgment, the band club asked for a retrial, which was rejected by the Court of Appeal on the basis that the proceedings disclosed no grounds on which a re-trial could be sought. The ruling of the Strasbourg court touches only this last judgment as it ruled that the judges deciding on a retrial should not have been the same as those sitting on the Court of Appeal.

In the meantime we are still left without any of our premises, even though there is no question that the requisition order for the garden is void, as no one has appealed this part of the judgment of the First Hall. Moreover, we have not received a cent in compensation for the loss of use of the premises and for the considerable damage caused, nor for the loss of contents.

It is now over 18 years since our premises were taken over. Surely this is a most unreasonable period of time to have to wait for rights to be given effect to.

One should note that owners have fundamental rights too!