The owners of a Birkirkara garage whose roof collapsed due to bad workmanship in an overlying tenement by an unlicensed stone mason have been awarded €17,500 in compensation by a court.

The case dates back to February 7, 2006 when a construction worker, Clive Micallef, 23, was lucky to escape with only abrasions after the roof of a house he was working in St Mary Street collapsed.

The weight of the debris caused the roof of the underlying garage to cave in, resulting in the destruction of a Fiat Punto that was parked inside. Several vehicle spare parts were also damaged.

Subsequently the owners of the garage sued the proprietors of the overlying tenement for damages.  

It transpired in court that Clive Micallef had agreed in writing that he would be financially liable for any damages caused to adjacent or underlying property.  These works included the removal of an arch.

The architect had given specific instructions on the procedure to be followed, using iron props to ensure that the weight of the roof was supported while the arch was being dismantled. However, during this operation, this procedure was not followed, with the resulting roof collapse.

The owners of the apartment insisted that they had taken all necessary precautions by appointing the architect to oversee the works. 

The court heard that Mr Micallef used to carry out some construction works but was not a certified stone mason – a qualification needed by law for such delicate job. Although Mr Micallef had assured the apartment owners that he had already carried out similar works in the past, his father could not recall any such jobs by his son.

In its decision the court presided by Magistrate Anna Felice referred to the conclusions of a report by a court-appointed expert who said that Mr Micallef lacked the necessary experience for this job, even though he had given the impression to the house owners that he was up to it. Furthermore, Mr Micallef had failed to follow the architect’s instructions.

As for liability of the incident, the magistrate ruled that apart from Mr Micallef, the house owners were still responsible. The written agreement with Mr Micallef should not affect the rights of somebody who was not party to it - in this case the garage owners.

As for the architect, the court said that he did not carry out the necessary verification  to ensure that the instructions he had given were actually being followed.

Furthermore, the architect had last visited the site three weeks before the incident, and had not felt the need to monitor the dismantling of the arch. The architect had also failed to verify whether Mr Micallef, with whom he had never worked before, was a qualified stone mason. 

Mr Micallef, the tenement owners and the architect were therefore ordered to pay a total of €17,500 to the garage owners.