Stop building, owners of Portomaso apartments say

Four disgruntled Portomaso residents who spent considerable amounts of money to buy their properties on the premise that the development would not be extended yesterday asked the court to order the developers to stop building.

Two couples, Ingrid and Anthony Ratcliffe and Victor Agius and Francoise Vanderperre, with apartments overlooking the yacht marina, said they were promised that the piece of land close to their apartments would not be built when they bought the property 15 years ago. They pointed out that not only was this pledge included in the purchasing contracts but also resulted from the outline development permits issued by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Mepa had decreed that “no extensions or enlargements of this development, its individual elements or any related development will be permitted”, the two couples said, adding this aspect was crucial in their decision to buy their properties and move to Malta to retire.

They applied for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the developers of Portomaso after an application was filed for the parcel of land in question to be developed.

Their lawyer, Ian Spiteri Bailey, argued that the very fact that the application to develop was being processed by Mepa prejudiced his clients’ interests.