Editorial

Long-suffering owners of '1939-rent' property probably sighed in relief last week that the decades-old injustice of which they are victims and which grows more monstrous with every passing year, may finally start to be addressed.

In his latest dialogue meeting with the public at the Auberge de Castille last Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the government would be making proposals as to how existing rent laws can be amended "in a just and fair manner".

Property owners had practically given up hope of getting the government to act on the long-festering issue of rent reform and on the continuing injustice they are suffering, since not only are they condemned to receiving an absurd amount of rent fixed at 1939 levels, which continues to be eroded by inflation, but they also stand no chance of ever recovering their property back, even if they need it for themselves.

Pressure has been put on Government for decades about the need to address this gross injustice by which a substantial number of citizens who were unfortunate enough to inherit old property are being robbed in broad daylight or forced to sell their property for a pittance to sitting tenants who are often much better off financially - only to see that property, now "released", exchange hands for fantastic sums!

The injustice, of course, concerns not only owners of dwellings let for laughable amounts such as Lm15 or Lm20 a year to tenants decades ago, and 'inherited' by descendants of those tenants, or even complete outsiders, who may admittedly be low-wage earners, but also owners of commercial property, often in prime locations, rented out to businessmen who can afford to buy out their owners a thousand times over!

Not to mention, of course, the added injustice heaped on the property owner when he or she is called upon to pay hundreds or even thousands of liri on "extraordinary" repairs, wiping out 60 years' rental income from that property in one go, or when the heirs of that property - still occupied - had to declare its current value on the open market for succession duty, or transfer duty!

The arguments showing the injustice of Malta's rent laws - and their harmful effects on the property market - have been made several times, even in this newspaper, so there is no need to repeat them here. However one must remark that the glimmer of hope that some justice may finally be on the way for old property owners, provided by Dr Gonzi's promise last Wednesday, would probably not have appeared had not Alternattiva Demokratika and its energetic chairman, Dr Harry Vassallo, not embarked on a campaign to collect signatures to oblige Government to hold a referendum. The important thing now is to keep that pressure up.

About 30,000 signatures are required for the holding of an abrogative referendum and it is quite possible that the target may soon be reached - at least judging by the response given to one of the questions in our latest survey, which shows that 97 per cent are in favour of holding the referendum, with 92.7 per cent intending to vote for the repeal of the existing rent laws.

Respondents in our survey have also massively expressed their disapproval of the inheritance of a tenancy (AD is proposing that it should be abolished forthwith except in the case of the surviving spouse) and of the continued subsidising of rent in government-owned housing, even if the tenant's economic situation improves.

And the vast majority of respondents also believe, logically, that with the liberalisation of rents and property, and presumably with lease contracts not so highly stacked against the property owner and in favour of the tenant, more property would be available for rent on the market.

This would give young couples a real option of renting furnished or unfurnished property at first, until their financial situation improves, and then embark on buying their own property, rather than force couples to buy property and take up part-time jobs on top of their full-time occupations to cope with their monthly mortgage payments, which may stretch for three decades or more. The current situation, of course, is having serious social effects in the form of marriage breakdowns, work-induced stress and a declining birthrate.

Naturally, Government would still have to intervene in humanitarian cases or low-income families who cannot afford to pay realistic rents. It should offer subsidies on the rent in accordance with the particular need. After all, private property owners have been subsidising rents for decades now, and in many cases, by substantial amounts each year, so it is time the burden is carried by Maltese society as a whole, and not just by one section.