MDA welcomes legal notice sanctioning minor breaches

The Malta Developers Association (MDA) welcomed the decision of the General Services Board to approve the issue of a legal notice that will empower the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to sanction existing residential units that are not in accordance with sanitary law when these breaches are not extensive and concern the size of internal and back yards, floor to ceiling height and rooms built in the back yard.

"We had long been insisting that the authorities should strive to find a solution for properties with small breaches of the sanitary regulations that were hindering their sale - more so when potential purchasers would need a bank loan to be able to buy them," the association said in a statement.

"The announced legal notice goes a long way to solving these problems."

The legal notice comes into effect on 1 August enables owners of dwellings with an existing illegal structure to regularise their position - at an administrative cost of €250. They will be granted compliance certificates necessary to apply for new water and electricity connections, among others.

The concessions only apply to developments built before 1 August and exclude buildings used for commercial purposes.

While noting that this concession applies only to existing residential buildings, the MDA feels that the reduction of the minimum floor to ceiling height, which has long been arbitrarily established at 2.75 metres should be a permanent amendment to the law.

It explained the height of courses has since been reduced and modern day buildings frequently have suspended soffits for various reasons, including the provision of air-conditioning.