The owner of two fields used to grow fodder for cattle has been awarded nearly €37,000 in compensation by the state, with the judge presiding over the case observing that the farmer tilling it landed in court through no fault of his own.

The case revolves around two fields in the Tas-Silġ area in Marsaxlokk, measuring some 10,500 square metres in total, leased for €42.21 a year, which increased to €69.02 in 2021.

The landowner, Emmanuel Ciantar, took the State Advocate and the farmer Frank Fenech to court. He had collected €1,335.32 from the farmer between 1991 and 2021.

While Ciantar claimed among others the law was denying him peaceful use of his possession, Fenech told the court the land’s commerciality was limited: among others, it was within an Out of Development Zone, close to a retreat house and formed part of land that had been studied for archaeological remains.

Fenech said he grew fodder for his cattle which his livelihood – the production of milk and beef – depended on.

The First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, presided over by Madam Justice Audrey Demicoli, ruled that the landowner suffered a breach of his fundamental rights.

It observed that while €69.02 for more than nine tumoli of land might have been fair in the past, this no longer reflected today’s reality. It also referred to a previous court decision which noted that despite the recent change in the law, legislation did not provide a remedy to landowners for the low lease they received in previous years.

Until recently, there was no mechanism that allowed for an increase in the fee for rural leases.

If the owner of a field wanted to raise what is known in Maltese as the qbiela, the increase was limited by the value of the surrounding fields. But since the surrounding fields were themselves limited by these same conditions, the qbiela could never be increased.

This often led the Constitutional Court to rule that Chapter 199 of the Laws of Malta (Agricultural Leases – Reletting – Act) was discriminatory with landowners.

So, in 2022, the government amended the Act, allowing landowners who wanted to increase the lease to suggest a fair price to the Rural Leases Control Board.

In order to facilitate the board’s computation, the government then published a legal notice in March 2023 with guidelines on how to value agricultural land for agricultural use.

In the case against the State Advocate and Fenech, the court therefore calculated remuneration that was based on recommendations by a technical expert for the period stretching from 1991 to 2021 and calculated that the landowner was owed €36,881.12, including moral damages.

The state would also have to cover any legal interest accumulated from the date of the sentence until the payment was effected. 

The court said the State Advocate should make good for the compensation as well as the case expenses for the landlord considering he would not have needed to take the case to court had his rights not been breached.

The court also observed that the farmer landed in the ordeal through no fault of his own.

He found himself part of the case “simply as a consequence” of the law regulating the lease that breached the landowners’ rights. Therefore, his court fees were also to be paid by the State.