Son loses bid to get share of house payment

A court case filed by a son against his mother was dismissed by Mr Justice Tonio Mallia, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court.

The court recommended the parties would reconcile.

The judgment was delivered in the case filed by the son against his mother who demanded she pay him Lm10,000 representing his share of the money she had received for renouncing to her right to an inherited lease.

The court heard that the son used to live with his mother and three other siblings in a house in Ta' Xbiex which had originally been leased to his father. Upon the death of the father, in 1981, the lease was inherited by the mother, and this in terms of the law governing the lease of urban property.

Mr Justice Mallia noted that the law expressly provided that upon the death of a tenant, the lease devolved exclusively upon the surviving spouse (in this case the widow) irrespective of whether her children were living with her or not.

Receipts for payment of rent were issued only in the mother's name.

The landlord had wished to sell the house and the prospective buyers had entered into an agreement with the mother whereby they undertook to pay her Lm50,000 if she would vacate the house early. As a result, the mother renounced to the lease and received the sum offered. The son claimed he was entitled to one-fifth of such sum.

The buyers and the family in question entered into an agreement whereby the four children undertook to vacate the premises too. But the agreement did not entitle the son to share the compensation with his mother, for the payment had been made only to her.

The court, therefore, dismissed the son's writ, auguring that the son and mother would attempt to try to rebuild their relationship.