Dom Mintoff’s rights breached in 1986 property requisition

Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff and his relatives had their rights breached when a Paola house they inherited was requisitioned for social housing 25 years ago during a Labour administration, a court has ruled.

The family suffered “a disproportionate and excessive burden” and were expected to bear most of the social and financial costs of supplying the housing, the court said.

The court also ordered the man who lives in the house to vacate it within three months and ordered the Director of Social Housing to pay the owners €7,537 in compensation.

In May 2007 the owners filed a constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, against the Director of Social Housing, the Attorney General and tenant Leo Leyland.

The owners included Mr Mintoff who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984 and Prime Minister between 1955 and 1958 and again from 1971 to 1984.

The court heard how the owners had inherited a house in Nazzarene Street, Paola. In 1962 the house was rented out,for 17 years, to a certain James Sauness who, in 1979, passed on the remaining years of the lease to Charles Cassar. Mr Cassar continued to rent it after the lease expired paying an annual rent of Lm86.45 (about €200).

The house was requisitioned for social housing in 1986, when the Labour Party was in government. The property was given to Dolores Leyland who was deemed a “normal case” and was not homeless. She was asked to pay Lm86 a year but this was not acceptable to the owners so the money was deposited at the Department of Social Housing.

In 2002 the director legally recognised Leo Leyland as the person occupying the house. The owners objected to this and pointed out that Mr Leyland was thinking of carrying out works on the house and building a room without their permission.

In February 2010 the owners were informed that the property was derequisitioned and they were offered a cheque of €4,507 for the compensation due to them. But they turned it down as they felt the amount did not reflect current market prices and the damages they had suffered.

They called on the court to declare that the requisition order, although now lifted, had breached their fundamental rights.

The court upheld the request and pointed out that the department had failed to meet the requisite for requisitions by offering a fair balance between the general interests of the community and the protection of the applicant’s right of property.

The court also found that the compensation did not reflect the current market prices and ordered the director to pay them €7,537. Mr Leyland was ordered to leave the property within three months.

In 2006 Mr Mintoff was awarded Lm360,000 in compensation for the de facto expropriation of his home at Delimara known as L-Għarix.

Mr Mintoff had claimed that his fundamental human right to enjoyment of his property had been violated with the construction of the Delimara power station just a road’s width away from his home.