AD launching referendum campaign on rent laws

Alternattiva Demokratika is launching a campaign for the holding of a referendum to abrogate all existing rent laws so that they may be replaced by a more modern and fair system, party chairman Harry Vassallo said yesterday.

In terms of the Referenda Act, the party needs to convince at least 30,000 citizens to sign a petition that would oblige the authorities to call a referendum.

Dr Vassallo said the current rent laws were holding back the development of a proper rental market, causing property prices to shoot up without any control.

Sections of the law were enacted immediately after the war to counter an acute housing shortage, but it was the law itself that was now creating a shortage, albeit an artificial one, he said.

"In many cases, tenants who rented a house decades ago still pay ridiculous rents," Dr Vassallo said. That gave property owners little incentive to rent out other properties.

As a result, one in four dwellings was vacant but not on the market, creating an artificial housing shortage and causing prices to shoot up.

"It is a big mistake to push thousands of Maltese and Gozitans into sharing the burden of social assistance in the housing area in the name of political fear and electoral opportunism, when each and everyone of us should share this responsibility.

"It is a shame that the current state of political paralysis is causing property prices to rocket. With some courage the situation can be sorted out," Dr Vassallo said. Malta needed a system that made the best use of available properties while less countryside would be used for house building.

Dr Vassallo said that it the referendum was held, it would then be up to Parliament to come up with a new law.

He said AD wanted to see in place a system where rents would be liberalised. Greater supply of rented properties would then bring down the price of new rents. At the same time the party wanted to see safeguards to protect elderly people who had been living in rented property regulated by the old law for many years.

Dr Vassallo said AD will be holding a public information meeting at Le Meridien Phoenicia Hotel, Floriana, on Saturday at 10 a.m.