Not all lease agreements contain a force majeure
provision. With respect to leases, force majeure is only
referred to in "Sub-title I. Of the Letting of
Things" of the Civil Code, article 1557, which refers to
force majeure in one specific situation, namely the
repair of damages: "The lessee shall in no case be
responsible for the repair of damages caused by force majeure and
without any fault of his own." In this case, the
legislator's aim is that the tenant has to ensure taking care
of the tenement as a bonus pater familias and
ergo effects the ordinary maintenance of the tenement,
except for repairs which are due to force
majeure.
Therefore, in the absence of a definition of force
majeure for the specificities of a lease agreement, one has to
look at the general provisions of the Civil Code, Chapter 16 of the
Laws of Malta, concerning torts and quasi-torts, namely article
1029:
