AD seeks budget measure on rent

Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday challenged Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to start putting an end to the rent injustice from the forthcoming budget.

Speaking at a press conference in Sliema, AD chairman Harry Vassallo said that despite Dr Gonzi's promises, "the country will not be tricked into believing that this government, or the next, will embark on a comprehensive reform in the rent laws to rectify an injustice that thousands of families have been suffering for 62 years".

Dr Vassallo said it was "a scandal" that a reform in the rent laws, which was on the PN electoral manifesto in 1987, has never been carried out.

Minister Dolores Cristina had promised to present the reform before Parliament four times over the last three years.

"The government is missing its own deadlines in order to buy enough time before the next election. Prime Minister Gonzi is now trying to shed responsibility by stating that he will be writing to the opposition. He does not need the opposition's approval to reform an injustice his party has been promising to rectify for 20 years. What he needs is courage," Dr Vassallo said.

The first step in the reform of the rent laws would be to abolish the right of inheritance. Otherwise, no serious reform could be undertaken. "This action will at least put a timetable on the injustice," he said.