Constitutional court orders return of Rabat home requisitioned by state

The Constitutional Court has ordered the director for social housing to pay the family of Chief Justice Anthony Montanaro Gauci €8,000 and return a property it had requisitioned.

Montanaro Gauci’s property at 4, Wagon Street, Rabat was taken over by a squatter, Carmelo Caruana, in 1987. Caruana moved his family into the house without any title to the property.

Although facing a civil suit by Montanaro Gauci, Caruana managed to obtain a requisition order from the department of social housing. The government then allocated him the property in 1988 and fixed an annual rent for Caruana to pay.

The landmark decision means that the house must be returned to the Montanaro Gauci family within three months.