The government will not rush to change any laws despite the eviction of five families ordered by the court after it found the landlord’s human rights were violated.

On Wednesday, Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi gave five families four months to evict their homes after he found they had no legal title to the land in Paola.

The families had been granted a perpetual lease by the courts based on the 1979 rent law but the judge took a different view, insisting the rent law violated the landlord’s rights.

Justice Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici said the court ruling could still be appealed and the government had to wait for the case’s final outcome.

“The government will monitor closely the events and is studying the scenario from a broad perspective,” Dr Bonnici said, when asked whether there were any legislative plans to address the problem.

The 1979 rent law gave tenants the right to extend the term of the property contract and retain possession of the premises. In 1995, the law was updated and lease contracts on properties signed after that date could no longer be extended without the owner’s consent.

However, the change did not provide any remedy for landlords impacted by the old law.

The land on which the five families live had been granted on a temporary ground rent for 99 years in 1887. When this expired in 1986, the tenants filed a court case and the temporary lease was turned into a perpetual one.

The tenants had been paying €4.66 per year in ground rent.

After the landlord won a court case in which it was deemed that her right to the enjoyment of property was violated, she went on to file another court case to get the families evicted.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com