A scheme will be launched next month giving people the possibility to redeem the ground rent of the properties administered by the Joint Office and the Land Department.

For as little as €1,000 these tenants, who run into the hundreds, can become owners of their homes.

Jason Azzopardi, Minister for Fair Competition, Small Business and Consumers, said the new scheme will open on February 20 and will run for six months. It will enable the tenants to redeem their ground rent at very favourable rates.

Those who currently pay less than €5 per year as ground rent will be able to redeem it for €1,000. Those paying between €5 and €10 per annum will be able to redeem it for €2,000 and those paying between €10 and €20 per year will be charged €3,000.

There are two conditions. If a property is sold within five years from when the ground rent is redeemed, the government will be entitled to 25 per cent of the price of the property. Disabled people, separated couples and those over 65 years old are exempt from this condition.

Secondly, if within 20 years such residences are demolished to be replaced by flats, the government would charge between 10 and 25 per cent on the profit.

Dr Azzopardi said a similar scheme was launched in 2001 and 5,500 applications were made, of which 3,400 have now been processed.

He said the properties were transferred to the government by way of an agreement with the Church in 1993. Most of the land transferred was fields. Most of these properties had temporary ground rent which effectively meant that,­­­ once the rent is up, the government could take possession of the property.

However, “because we have a social conscience”, the government is giving these people the possibility to redeem the ground rent and have peace of mind that the government will not knock on their door one day to say that it wants the property back because the ground rent had expired, Dr Azzopardi explained.

Those who do not take advantage of this “generous offer” are running this risk.

Meanwhile, Dr Azzopardi said the government had already paid around €5 million over the past two years to owners of land expropriated in the 1980s.

Before these payments were made, the occupants of the homes that were built on these plots could still not call their home their own. It meant they were still occupying their homes on the basis of a promise of sale agreement, so they could not take out any loans from the bank.