The Developers’ Association is looking into the case of an octogenarian who has been living in fear next to a construction site after her house sustained visible structural damage.
Rainwater had seeped in through the fault cracks that run across the walls. This was not the first time that rainwater had trickled in, and over the past 18 months, large mould stains have formed on some walls.
This newspaper was told on Monday that the contractor carrying out the current works next to the Paceville house, which Ms Zarb Cousin has been living in for 56 years, is a member of the Malta Developers’ Association.
MDA president Sandro Chetcuti noted that this contractor had a good reputation, but the MDA will be investigating the case to understand what had led to the dangerous situation that the woman described earlier this week. Ms Zarb Cousin told the Times of Malta that her house had sustained damage after the demolition of a neighbouring building.
MDA members have to abide by a code of ethics, and the present contractor has agreed to cooperate with the association
Ms Zarb Cousin, 81, said that she tried to reach an agreement with the neighbouring builders, who asked her to temporarily move elsewhere, but she had nowhere to go.
She explained that the contractor carrying out the works had propped up an arch leading from the sitting room to her dining room with metal stilts. But she was living in fear, especially considering that the electricity system embedded in the wall could be exposed to the elements because of cracks.
The inconvenience is not limited to the indoors. The site next door, where no work was done during the summer months, became a mosquito and rat hotspot, and cockroaches creeped into her sitting room, she said. Mr Chetcuti insisted to this newspaper that MDA members had to abide by a code of ethics, noting that the present contractor had agreed to cooperate with the association during its investigation.
He also noted that the ultimate onus remained on the site owner, adding that the MDA has been calling for a compulsory registration of all those who decided to develop a site.
This was especially important at a time when Malta was in a building regeneration period. While decades ago most property was developed on or around unoccupied land, recent development was taking place on already developed sites.