Tenants' Rights Safeguarded By Constitutional Court

Constitutional Court, Gerald Camilleri et vs Advocate General et, 6^th October 2020

The Maltese courts of Constitutional Jurisdiction were tasked with deciding a claim of violation of fundamental human rights as filed by the applicants, who had purchased a property in Sliema - in respect of which the provisions of the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance, Chapter 158 of the Laws of Malta are applicable - and which the applicants knew was tenanted by third parties under a title of lease resulting from a previous title of emphyteusis. Notwithstanding the fact that the applicants were well aware of the tenants' rights and indeed had purchased the property in question for around two hundred thousand euro (€200,000) less than its freehold market value and without vacant possession, it was alleged that the 'forced' landlord-tenant relationship breached the applicants' rights.