Has The ECHR Indirectly Imposed Changes In Our Rent Laws?

A landmark judgement was delivered last month by the European Court of Human Rights, a judgement which is bound to change the interpretation of our municipal rent laws. In the case of Zammit and Attard Cassar vs Malta the ECHR decided that Articles 3 and 4 of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance which prohibit an increase in pre-1995 rents, violate the owner's property rights as protected by Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights since this law imposed an unfair and excessive burden on the owner.

Rent laws state that in a pre-1995 lease, upon the expiration of the lease period, the owner of the property cannot refuse the renewal of the lease, raise the rent or impose new conditions unless authorised by the Rent Regulation Board. Moreover the raise in rent, even if authorised by the Board, cannot exceed the sum of 40% over and above the fair rent at which the property could have been leased in 1914. In practical terms, the