A total of €73,000 in moral and pecuniary damages will be paid to seven aggrieved property owners who struck a friendly settlement with the government after taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
They complained that, given the low amount of compensation awarded to them by the Constitutional Court, they were still the victims of a violation of their right for protection of their property. All four cases had to do with the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance.
Jesmond Portelli and Nazzareno Portelli, who own a property in Marsa, will receive €14,000 from the government. In 2016, the Civil Court (First Hall), in its constitutional competence, had awarded them €16,000 in compensation but this was subsequently reduced to €5,000 by the Constitutional Court.
A similar experience was faced by Maria Stella Azzopardi Vella and John Azzopardi Vella when they instituted proceedings about their property in Sliema. They had been awarded €20,000 damages in February 2016 and the court also ordered they should receive €3,000 annually for every subsequent year during which the tenants benefited from the law they complained of. Seven months later, the Constitutional Court agreed there had been a violation but cut the compensation to €5,000, also annulling the order for future annual payments.
The Court agreed there had been a violation
The government will pay the property owners €17,000 jointly.
A sum of €20,000 will be paid to Raimond Cassar Torreggiani and Geraldine Cassar Torreggiani, owners of an apartment in St Julian’s, who had complained they had been unable to repossess the property, which they needed, and for which they were being paid just seven per cent of its rental market value.
The Civil Court (First Hall), in its constitutional competence, upheld their claim and awarded them €50,000 in moral damages in February 2015. Just over a year later, the sum was lowered to €5,000 by the Constitutional Court.
Rose Borg, the owner of a property in Birkirkara, will be getting €22,000 from the government. In February 2016, she had been awarded compensation amounting to €15,000, which had been cut to €5,000 by the Constitutional Court five months later.
In view of the amicable settlements, a committee of three European judges decided to strike the cases off the list. Chief Justice Emeritus Vincent De Gaetano was among the committee members.