[attach id=263766 size="medium"]The King’s Own Band Club in Valletta. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi[/attach]

An action for eviction filed by 26 owners of a property leased to the King’s Own Band Club in Valletta has been dismissed after the Rent Regulation Board ruled that the case had been incorrectly filed.

The owners had leased the premises in Republic Street, Valletta to the club for €1,165 a year.

They claimed the club had, however, sublet part of the premises to be operated as a bar and restaurant, and asked the board to order the club’s eviction.

The club submitted that the action had been incorrectly filed as it did not have a separate and distinct legal personality. The legal representation of the club was vested in its secretary.

It also denied subletting the bar and restaurant, for which the club itself held the licence.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale noted that in February 2005 the club had issued a call for offers to run the bar and restaurant. The offer was published in the local papers where it caught the attention of the owners.

That March the club granted the running of the bar and restaurant to Paul Cortis and Clint Farrugia for a period of five years.

One of the owners, Sean Bradshaw, had a meal at the club in June 2005 and was issued with a receipt in the club’s name. The owners then filed an action for eviction.

The board noted the club’s statute provided that the legal representation of the club vested in its secretary. At no time in the eight years that this case had taken to be decided had the owners ever requested a change in the names of the law suit or had called the secretary into the suit.

The owners, said the board, could have easily obtained a copy of the club’s statute in order to file their case correctly.

The bar and restaurant were registered in the name of the club, which had only delegated the running of the bar area to a contractor. Furthermore, the owners were aware that the club ran a bar on its premises. One of the previous owners had in fact insisted that the club sell the products he imported from the bar.