I refer to Joseph P.Borg’s contribution Redemption of Ground Rent (February 6). To complete the rent reform legislation, the government should now address that category of temporary ground rents that revert to the owner on the expiry of the leasehold. These are temporary ground rents, which, as the law stands, cannot be redeemed by the tenant as s/he is not the enfitewta. (I stand to be corrected on this point but this is the information obtainable from the relative government department.)

The government should legislate that in such circumstances, prior to the expiry of the temporary leasehold, the enfitewta should be allowed to redeem the ground rent, even though s/he would not be the tenant. Such redemption should be permissible on condition that the tenant would be allowed to occupy the premises during his/her lifetime, however, without the right to pass the lease to his/her heirs.

In this manner, justice would be done both with the enfitewta and with the tenant.