A woman has been unable to use her car for six months after a major building contractor placed a large block of concrete at the entrance to her rented garage because of a financial dispute with her landlord.

The concrete has been left there by Polidano Group in response to what the company claims is the landlord’s failure to settle a long-standing debt “exceeding €1 million.”

The landlord disagrees, saying that overrunning construction works by the group left his company out of pocket and that a previous court case has already settled the matter.

Meanwhile, tenant Jeanette Galea is caught in the middle.

Jeanette bought her white Audi TT Coupé in 2020 and started renting the garage soon after in September of that year.

She is proud of her car, enjoyed taking it out at the weekends and says she persevered to afford it. “I’m not a millionaire [but] I work very hard,” she told Times of Malta.

While Jeannette has a garage at home, her father’s health condition prompted her to rent a separate unit to make it easier for him to manoeuvre his car at home.

“My father is suffering from Parkinsons,” she says, gesticulating that the condition causes his hands to tremor.

“I prefer to leave my father comfortable with one car in the two-car garage... that’s why I thought it would be better if I rent my own garage.”

Since she started renting the unit, the block of concrete has been left in the entrance four times, though never for as long as recently, she says.

“It happened before... for about two weeks or maybe a month [on each occasion], but this time it’s already almost six months. We cannot continue like this.”

The piece of concrete is of a size typically seen on construction sites and is impossible to lift without heavy machinery.

“Ċaqnu put it here,” she replies when asked who is responsible. Ċaqnu, or Iċ-Ċaqnu, is the nickname of Charles Polidano, one of the country’s wealthiest men and one of its largest building contractors.

He is also one of its most controversial, having hit the headlines over the years for unpaid tax bills exceeding €40 million and investigations into illegal works at the company's Montekristo Estates.

Jeanette is visibly emotional during the interview when her car fails to start, the battery having died due to lack of use. “Even when I’m looking at it, I’m getting disappointed,” she says.

While she has access to another car for day-to-day use, she is concerned about leaving her car unused for so long and laments the effort and money she has put into it.

“You work a lot, you pay everything... if an accident occurs, you don’t know what will happen,” she says.

Not the first time

On past occasions, the block was not removed but instead simply shifted onto the pavement to the side of the entrance, Jeanette tells us. Now the block is back again, and, despite repeated calls to her landlord and the police, there are no signs of it being taken away.

Jeanette pays rent of €750 upfront at the start of the year and is reluctant to rent another garage so soon into the year. In addition to the rental costs, she is paying almost €2,500 in licence and insurance fees, she tells us.

“When we speak to the landlord, every time he says... ‘there’s a court case going on... go and file a police report’,” Jeanette says.

“When I go to the police station, every time the police tell me that since it’s not exactly on the pavement and people can pass, they have nothing to do with it.”

“I try to be calm... but it’s for nothing – that’s why I called you... maybe someone will help us from the authorities,” she says hopefully.

“The developer is a very well-known developer, and he can do whatever he wants – that’s the story.”

Ongoing dispute

Responding to questions from Times of Malta, a spokesperson for Polidano Group said the company was “constrained to resort to such action” after being owed over €1 million by the landlord’s company Acorn Properties Limited.

“Polidano was engaged as the contractor on the site several years ago. As part of the payment, the owner, Acorn Properties Ltd, agreed to transfer property to the Polidano Group,” they said.

“However, Acorn failed to fulfil its legal obligations long after Polidano had completed all the necessary construction work and... is leasing the property to third parties despite failing to settle its debts.

“As the contractor, Polidano enjoys a privilege over the property and has exercised this right due to the substantial debt owed to the company,” they said, warning that the press “should not be manipulated by companies or individuals in cases where they have failed to pay debts due to another party.”

Joe Farrugia, the landlord and owner of the now-defunct Acorn Properties Limited, says that Polidano Group has no claim to the four apartments and garages initially promised to them, having not fulfilled their contractual obligation when performing the construction in 2005.

The group had promised to finish the building within nine months but ended up taking over three years, he said. Acorn Properties “had already sold 60-70 per cent of all the property” at the planning stage but was forced to rescind the sales when the building was not ready in time, he told Times of Malta. 

“All the agreements had to be cancelled, all the money had to be returned to the buyers and, obviously, the company suffered a lot of loss,” he said, adding that Polidano Group had lost an initial court case about the issue and had since opened a second.

While the police had removed the block on one occasion in the past, no action had been taken recently, he said.

“I have put pressure on the police but it’s for nothing... every time I call the police – I even speak to the superintendent of police and the assistant commissioner – they say, ‘okay we’re going to speak to him,’” Farrugia said.

Times of Malta has reached out to the police for comment.