State ordered to pay €800,000 compensation to owners of rented Valletta property

The State has been ordered to pay €800,000 to the owners of leased property in a prime site of Valletta, who were unjustly deprived of full enjoyment thereof once the lease expired in 1977.

The premises located at Archbishop Street were originally purchased by B. Tagliaferro & Sons Limited in 1960 and after five years, the company leased out the property to the Mizzi family at an annual rent of £900.

By means of private writing, the parties agreed that Central Mediterranean Development Corporation Limited and Hubbalit Developments Limited were also to enter into the agreement as lessees.

The lease was to expire in September 1977 but was automatically renewed in terms of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Act.

As of 2002, the owners refused to accept further payment of rent and from then on the money was deposited in court, while the landlords sought a remedy before the Rent Regulation Board.

In 2009, the board upheld their claims, ordering the property to revert back to the owners.

But that decision was subsequently reversed by the court of appeal which bound the applicants to renew the lease indefinitely, leaving them with no option but to take their grievances before...