Co-owners of a share in a Qormi property used as the town's Labour Party club have been awarded €30,000 in damages for suffering a “disproportionate and excessive burden” under the applicable rental laws.
The Labour Party Qormi committee was paying an annual rent of €197.04 for the property when current market rates suggested the property could rake in €11,700 a year if rented out.
Nine applicants, who inherited a share in the property, had filed constitutional proceedings claiming that their fundamental right to the enjoyment of their property was breached on account of the current rental regime which denied them of an adequate income and barred them from terminating the lease.
The property had been leased in 1951 at an annual rent of Lm65 (€151) which was increased to Lm85 (€198) in 2002, following the death of the applicants’ mother.
The First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Robert Mangion, observed that the "social purpose" of the lease ought not be the sole consideration by the State.
The court was to consider not only the fact that the landlord was being deprived of the enjoyment of his property but, “more importantly the extent to which that enjoyment was being denied.”
The government was to ensure that the general interest of the citizens did not create an unnecessary burden upon any particular landlord who had a right to just compensation for any social use the authorities may want to put his property to, the court went on.
Government was to make sure that the interest of the landlord was not prejudiced, said the court.
The court observed that every political party had a partisan interest and that such interest did not equate to a general interest, even though the plurality of political parties was an essential ingredient in a democracy.
As for the rent paid to the applicants, the court observed that the sum was a “far cry from the adequate rent” on the current property market.
Even after taking note of the possible increments up to 2023, the Court concluded that the “current laws placed a disproportionate and excessive burden” upon the landlord, thereby constituting a breach of his rights under the Constitution and the European Convention.
Bearing in mind what the Labour Party was actually paying in rent and the estimated current value of €11,700 per annum, the Court concluded that there was “a substantial discrepancy.”
The Court also took note of the inertia of the State and its passivity over the years to undertake the necessary legislative intervention to balance out the burdens and rights of landlords.
In the light of these considerations, the Court awarded the applicants €5,000 in moral damages and a further €25,000 in pecuniary damages, further declaring that the respondents could no longer rely on the relative laws to rebut any action for eviction.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta and Eve Borg Costanzi assisted the applicants. Lawyers Robert Abela, Ian Borg, Abigail Caruana and Jacqueline Grech assisted the respondents.