Rent legislation

I totally agree with the proposals made by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Victor A. Galea (The Sunday Times, March 4), but I would like to mention another injustice - the 1979 rent law which the Nationalist MPs voted against. This law is unofficial requisition, ignoring legal lease contracts for 21 years to be changed in rent double the ground-rent.

The other injustice is when the evaluation of the property for in heritance tax purpose is valued at a different, commercial rate. Why can government departments raise the rent and landlords cannot?

I appeal to Minister Dolores Cristina to present a copy of Mr Galea's article in Parliament as a White Paper, to see what all MPs have to say about the unjustified rent laws. It would save time and money preparing the long overdue White Paper.