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The government has appealed against a “landmark” judgment on the unconstitutionality of old property rents but this is not expected to slow the momentum in favour of owners’ rights, according to specialist lawyers. The widely expected appeal does not diLandmark leasehold judgment appealed, but more lawsuits expected
The government has appealed against a “landmark” judgment on the unconstitutionality of old property rents but this is not expected to slow the momentum in favour of owners’ rights, according to specialist lawyers. The widely expected appeal does not diminish the impact of the sentence delivered by the First Hall in its constitutional jurisdiction: Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff’s ruling has paved the way for an entire class of residential property leases to be deemed unconstitutional. “The sentence implies that all residential rents with current annual rent of €209 can be declared unconstitutional because of the principle of proportionality between tenant and owner,” said Edward Debono, the lawyer of the plaintiffs who were awarded €20,000 in damages. “It’s a landmark decision because, while Act X of 2009 had been declared unconstitutional as to commercial rents and requisitioned properties in previous cases, this is the first time that non-requisitioned residential rents have been considered unconstitutional.” In its legal submissions the government had attempted to draw this distinction: it pleaded that there was no violation of owners’ property rights because the property... Read more
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