Owners of residences with structures that breach sanitary laws are being given a concession to sanction the irregularities.

A legal notice that comes into effect on August 1 enables owners of dwellings with an existing illegal structure to regularise their position – at an administrative cost of €250. They will be granted compliance certificates necessary to apply for new water and electricity connections, among others.

The legal notice covers the size of back and internal yards, floor to ceiling height and rooms built in the backyard.

The concessions only apply to developments built before August 1 and exclude buildings used for commercial purposes.

Details of the legal notice were given by Public Health Director Ray Busuttil, who is also chairman of the General Services Board, which, over the past three years, saw a steep increase in requests to sanction due to non-conformities.

The legal notice will give the planning authority the power to sanction without the need for applicants to go to the General Services Board.

Dr Busuttil noted that most of the buildings affected were apartment blocks or small houses built between the 1970s and the 1990s.

Alex Borg, director of enforcement at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, explained that these concessions were not automatic and required a specific form filled by an architect and, in certain cases, a report by an engineer.

He said the measures were in reaction to the social realities of a number of families who ended up with a property that could not be modified or supplied with water and electricity meters due to the illegalities.