Raymond and Christine Cassar Torreggiani have been awarded €50,000 in compensation after a court found that they were deprived of the enjoyment of their property as a result of the 1979 amendments to the Housing Decontrol Ordinance which granted protection of tenure to tenants.

Mr and Mrs Cassar Torreggiani told the court that they owned a flat in St Julians which had been leased for five years by its previous owner to Mr and Mrs Tabone in 1978. The Cassar Torreggianis had acquired the flat in 1986.

In June 1979, the government enacted an amendment to the Housing Decontrol Ordinance in terms of which tenants, who were Maltese citizens and who lived in a decontrol dwelling house (such as the flat they owned) were granted protection of tenure when their leases expired.

This provision of the law, they said, was in violation of their fundamental human right to enjoyment of their property for they could not reclaim it for themselves and, moreover, they were not receiving adequate compensation.

The court found there was no doubt that the 1979 amendments negatively affected the right to enjoyment of property on the part of the owners.

The law had been enacted with the scope of providing accommodation to tenants. But it was placing a disproportionate burden on the owners, in this case the Cassar Torreggiani family.

The court appointed architect had established that when the lease took place the flat had a rental value of €1,470, while it could not earn a rental value of €5,850 per annum. But Mr and Mrs Tabone were paying €845.54 per annum in rent in terms of the amendments to the law.

The court found in favour of the owners and ordered the Attorney General to pay them €50,000 in compensation for the violation of their human rights.