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Owners of King's Own Band Club awarded €300,000
Court awards owners €300,000 in compensation after concluding club’s owners were deprived of enjoying their property due to very low rental fees.
9 October 2013, 12:00am
Chris Mangion
Chris Mangion
1 min read
Owners of King's Own Band Club in Republic Street, Valletta, were awarded €300,000 in compensation after a court ruled provisions in the rent laws deprived them of enjoying their property.
The complainants had filed the Constitutional Application against the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the King's Own Band Club.
The club was rented in the 1940s at an annual rent of £500. This was later converted to Lm500.
Judge Anna Felice heard complaints that the rent was extremely low considering the actual value of the building. But due to existing law, rent could not be reviewed. The owners argued they were thus deprived of enjoying their property which was legally expropriated for a public purpose.
The court held that it was the right of every individual to enjoy his property. An architect appointed by the family had estimated that the rental value should be €269,100 annually, while a government's architect claim it should be €93,000.
Further investigations showed that the club generates a revenue of €45,000 every year.
Chris Mangion is MaltaToday’s photojournalist, joining the newspaper in 2013.
In 1995...
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Here we go again another injustice being partially remedied. I think that the government should find out which properties were requisitioned (confiscated) by the government in the past and make good on the damage the government has caused for the property owners. My father's property on Triq in-Naxxar at B'Kara was requisitioned (confiscated) by the MLP, then under the direction of Dom Mintoff in 1974 and that property was rented to one of their constituents for 19 Maltese Liri a year until 2007 when the courts raised the rent to 185 euros a year. My siblings and I inherited that property and want that property back so us and our children can enjoy the inheritance our father left us. But we can't because the initial squatter is still living in that same property and thanks to our archaic laws we cannot evict that person. The government taketh away and the government should giveth back. Maybe the MLP took it away and the PL should give it back. It is about time the PL make amends to us property owners who had their property requisition(confiscated) by the MLP.
