Woman awarded €25,000 compensation for 1984 expropriation of property
A woman has been awarded €25,000 in compensation after a court concluded that the 1984 expropriation of her property in Birkirkara for social housing purposes was in violation of her fundamental human rights.
Marija Mifsud filed her constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Commissioner of Lands and the Prime Minister.
She told the court that in 1984 two properties she owned in an alley off Laqxija Street, Birkirkara had been expropriated by the government for a social purpose.
The authorities had built a housing estate and roads on an area of land which included her property.
By way of compensation, the Commissioner had offered her Lm8.40 per annum. Ms Mifsud had refused the compensation which she deemed to be "miserable" but the offer was confirmed by the Land Arbitration Board.
An architect produced in court by Ms Mifsud said that the properties in question would have a commercial value of Lm20,000 (€46,587) in 2000 and that by 2008 the value of the property would have doubled.
Mr Justice Gino Camilleri declared in yesterday's judgment that the individual had a right to enjoyment of his/her own property but that this right was subject to certain limitations.
The state was empowered to expropriate private property for a public purpose, provided that the conditions established by law were observed. These conditions were that adequate compensation was offered and that the property was expropriated in the public interest.
In this case there was no doubt that the expropriation had taken place in the public interest for a housing estate and roads had been built on the land. However, the court ruled that it had to establish whether Ms Mifsud was suffering in a disproportionate and excessive manner as a result of the expropriation.
The court pointed out that the law enabled the authorities to expropriate land in three manners, namely by outright purchase, by title of possession and use, and by title of public dominium. In the latter two instances, instead of paying the owner a sum equivalent to the property's value, the authorities were empowered to pay an annual sum by way of compensation.
Once the property had been expropriated from Ms Mifsud to be demolished and for the purposes of constructing a housing estate and roads, then the court ruled that the expropriation ought to have been carried out by outright purchase.
The court, therefore, concluded that Ms Mifsud's right to adequate compensation had been violated and ordered the authorities to pay her €25,000 in compensation.
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Tony Zammit
Oct 15th 2011, 07:14
I think there’s a mistake here, should been Lm20,000. not € 25.000. OR at least give her part of the profit with interest, after all it was her land they build on..
James Tyrrell
Oct 15th 2011, 13:22
I think it should have been more Tony. See my comment below. If I was the lady in question I would fight this all the way.
Anthony Mifsud Bonnici Giordani
Oct 15th 2011, 04:39
Alla halaq lil kulhadd gheri allura kif minn huwa bil-guh u min huwa fis-sakra? Ghaliex hawn min irid dejjem jikkalpesta lil PL ta dak iz-zmien u ma jarax kemm nazzjonalisti hadu dar fil-laqxija? Il-PL kien jaghmel gustizzja ma min ma setax jibni daru billi jibnilu u jghatih fejn joqghod. Mhux bhal llum ma jkollok darek QATT. Hasra li dawn il-votanti nazzjonalisti baqghu ghomja u jpaxxu lil PN bil-vot taghhom.
Joseph Mizzi
Oct 15th 2011, 00:50
The gov had expropriated a large field from my parents (the car park in front of Gozo General Hospital) and were paid a miserly sum of many years of hassle. A blatant abuse of power and ... I can't think of a better word ... stealing!
James Tyrrell
Oct 15th 2011, 00:35
If the properties in question were worth €46,587 in 2000 and by 2008 would have been worth double this figure then surely by 2011 the properties should have a value in the region of €116,467. So where did this figure of €25,000 come from?
Steve Sant
Oct 14th 2011, 20:10
Happening all the time. And we still vote for them, all of them I mean.
Carmel Farrugia
Oct 14th 2011, 19:27
You will barely buy a garage for EUR 25,000 to-day -- and these are the people who want the Maltese tax payer to do justice with them and double their salary!!!
Joseph Borg
Oct 14th 2011, 18:36
SHAME on the Government AND the Court!
Stephen Zammit
Oct 14th 2011, 18:19
This is not justice.
Tony Borg
Oct 14th 2011, 17:46
Gino Camilleri, i cannot imagine if that property was your own, how would you have accepted such a miserable buyout € 25K are not Lm20K. You are now already asking to have double you paycheck. So is this the right way how you treat others?? Shame on you...........
Giovann Demartino
Oct 14th 2011, 17:22
Se nibqghu msallbin bil-hnizrijiet tar-regim sa l-eternita!
Paul Cassar
Oct 14th 2011, 18:50
One of your champions said debt will be paid by our children.............and their children...............and their children.................Amen
Victor Laiviera
Oct 14th 2011, 20:24
Dawn rajthom, Sur DeMartino?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110808/local/Failure-to-compensate-within-reasonable-time-constitutes-breach-of-human-rights.379237
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080517/local/expropriated-property-lies-idle-for-over-16-years.208375
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080516/local/court-awards-50-000-over-rights-violation-in-expropriation-order.208322
mark borg
Oct 15th 2011, 07:29
Kemm konna ahjar imsalbin b dak ir regim li qed tirreferi int ,milli mishutin darba ghal dejjem min dan ir regim tal lum - Mhux hekk imsalbin sabih konna dak iz zmien -Alla hares il -generazjonijiet ta dak iz zmien(ghax komdi bis sahha ta dak iz zmien) mhux qed jghinu lil generazjoni mghafga tal lum (bis sahha tar regim tal lum) - u nehhi dak in nuccali BLU ghax hafna mghadhomx jilbsuh !!!!!
Michael Grech
Oct 15th 2011, 08:57
F'hafna kazi l-affarijiet setghu saru hafna ahjar, biss jekk li tibni postijiet ghall-poplu jew anke li taghmel ridistribuzzjoni tal-gid (tiehu mill-hafna ta' min ghandu, u tghati li min mghandux) hi hnizrija, jalla jkollna aktar hnizrijiet!
Aristide Galea
Oct 14th 2011, 17:21
Din gustizzja ala Maltija . Mela cittadin komuni jinghata qxur tal-karawett mil-gvern ,filwaqt li nies ta' profil gholi (ma hemmx ghalfejn nispecifika min) ta' bicca art wisa' ta' bankina jinghata LM70,000 maltin. Dik gustizzja li saret ma din mara .
Justice Maltese style. Common citizens are offered peanuts for their property when expropriated by the government in the national intertest , whilst people of high profile (you can guess who) gets LM70,000 for a slot of land no more then the width of a pavement (bankina).
Joseph Calleja
Oct 14th 2011, 18:00
Mr Galea like I said unless you are the owner of one of these requisitioned properties you don't have much to say. I am as common a citizen just like you. not that it matters, but all I want is what the government took away from me and my family to accommodate their constituents at the time. This was nothing but a political move by the infamous Dom Mintoff, who was running the government at the time. I don't know who this woman is but I think she is entitled to a fair compensation for her property. And why doesn't this present government give me the right to evict these squatters? Thirty six years ago an injustice was done against my family and this government, any government owes me and my family the right to evict these people without having to go to court. Does that answer your question?
Aristide Galea
Oct 14th 2011, 20:48
Mr. Calleja, I think that you have misunderstood my comment completely , because I did not justify all this .On the contrary , I said that common citizens are treated much more different from high profile citizens by both governments when it comes to compensation . That is why I gave an example of how two maltese citizens were treated differently on the same issue .
I know how you feel because I have members of my family that have been treated this way by both governments . And they are still treated this way by this government .
Joseph Calleja
Oct 14th 2011, 16:34
Hallelujah, hallelujah. Finally some justice is being done in favour of the confiscated property owners. The government has a lot of rights, but the government had no right to requisition properties without the owner’s permission for personal intent and without compensation. I applaud the courts for seeing through this and finally understanding this huge injustice. Confiscating a house and letting squatters live in this house and then assign the rent to be 19 Maltese liri a year for the last 34 years is not fair to the property owner. And to booth, we cannot even evict these people. For some crazy idea, the laws of Malta still favour the illegal occupancy of the property. By the way the same eviction laws do not apply to new rental houses or new rental apartments. It is about time the government changes the eviction laws for the old confiscated properties. We would like to have our property back. And please unless you happen to be one of these victim property owners, you do not have much to say. It has been 36 years since the government, yes the government agreed for squatters to move into my father's almost empty house and we still cannot get it back. I think both governments are at fault. One took it away, and the other is still encouraging these squatters to stay on. What if one cannot afford a lawyer to go to court to be able to evict these people?
B Attard
Oct 14th 2011, 15:15
Sal llum nefqithom avukat u qorti lol.
Walter Joseph Attard
Oct 14th 2011, 19:58
Li qed tghid veru Sur Attard, ahna ghandna kas il qorti li ilu sebgha snin ghaddej, jekk nghidklek kemm infaqna sal lum inwerwrek! Li naf hi li min iffotti u jisraq dejjem minn fuq! Jekk tkun bhali onnest tbati hafna..... jkollok tassal fpunt li jaqbillek iccedi u tirbah. Imma l qrati jdumu u hemm skop ghal dan!!!! U jiena naf xi tfisser!!!!!!!! Min jisraq u jfotti u jkollu l flus jaghmel triq fil bahar!!!! With appologies imma imwegga hafna ghax il familja tbati.... u meta tisma bxi delit tghid imma ghaliex ha gustizja b idejh???? Ma ghandux jkun hekk imma ......... li tkun onest jitla iz zejt f wicc l ilma!!!
Gordon Farrugia
Oct 14th 2011, 15:13
Lm8.40 per annum - lol what compensation
even €25,000 is probably a ridiculous amount - the owner should have got nothing less than market value.
Joseph Calleja
Oct 14th 2011, 16:38
One commentator is right, the lawyers will get most of the compensation money. There is no justification in why the property owner was not compensated at the market value in the first place. The government wants, the government take it away. Third world country, mentality.
Mr Duncan Scerri
Oct 14th 2011, 15:13
And it only took 27 years.
Useless <censored> want a pay rise.
Carmel camilleri
Oct 14th 2011, 15:12
The atrocities committed by the L P during the 80s will continue to be a burden on the taxpayer for a long time.
Michael Grech
Oct 14th 2011, 15:45
Carmel, the LP did a lot of bad things back then, but the 'atrocity' in question enabled I do not know how many families to own a house. If that is an atrocity, I'd rather have more atrocities like that (obviously, in a number of regards things could have been done much better), than having to pay a house-loan till aged 65 or older.
Victor Laiviera
Oct 14th 2011, 15:49
You must have missed these:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110808/local/Failure-to-compensate-within-reasonable-time-constitutes-breach-of-human-rights.379237
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080517/local/expropriated-property-lies-idle-for-over-16-years.208375
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080516/local/court-awards-50-000-over-rights-violation-in-expropriation-order.208322
l vella
Oct 14th 2011, 15:50
If i recall correctly, someone said, let our children and the children of our children pay. Thats a long time too.
Please remember the good guys/bad guys are only in the movies. In real life nothing is black or white, there are always grey areas
Steve Gauci
Oct 14th 2011, 15:55
since when building a housing estate has become an atrocity........get a life.
Victor Calleja
Oct 14th 2011, 16:30
How I wish PN governments did more atrocities like this