Appeal, judicial letter, over scheduling of Villa Bologna lands

The owners of part of the land forming part of Villa Bologna in Attard have filed an appeal with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority requesting the revocation of their land’s scheduling.

The Bonnici Mallia family, who own the part of land, also filed a judicial letter against the De Trafford family who are occupying their land by title of temporary utile dominium for the next 40 years. The De Traffords own parts of the villa’s lands but do not own the Bonnici Mallia’s portion. The land owners are claiming that the De Traffords misrepresented themselves when they claimed to be the owners of their portion of property and applied for the scheduling of the land.

On July 18 MEPA upheld the application and scheduled the Bonnici Mallia’s land.

The Bonnici Mallia family appealed on several grounds and argued that they were not consulted or notified regarding the scheduling and, therefore, MEPA's decision was to be declared null. Furthermore, they said that the De Traffords, who had voluntarily requested the scheduling of the villa, were not entitles to apply for the scheduling of the part of the land that did not belong to them.

The Bonnici Mallia family asked MEPA to revoke the scheduling of the land.

In the judicial letter also filed today in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the Bonnici Mallias called on the De Traffords to take necessary steps so that the land would no longer be scheduled as this was prejudicial to their rights over their property. They held the De Traffords liable in damages and argued that, should they not comply, they would take action to take back the land.