A landlord has been ordered to pay €3,000 as compensation to a Serbian couple after he changed the lock of their rented apartment while they were away on holiday, and threw away their belongings.

A court, presided by Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff, heard how Bojan Lazarevic rented an apartment in St Paul’s Bay for two-and-a-half years until 2014 and had been regular in his rent payments.

In August 2014 he went on holiday for four weeks in Serbia, and upon his return found that he could not enter his apartment as the door lock had been changed.

He contacted the landlord, Joseph Casha, who told him that he thought he would not return and had therefore disposed of his belongings and rented the apartment to other people.

Mr Lazarevic said there had been a range of personal items in his apartment, including a computer and documents, and other items belonging to his companion Jelena Andric including a gold necklace and fashion bags. They calculated the total value at €18,000.

Ms Andric also claimed to have suffered damages because documents which were thrown away included her residence permit, and she was therefore repatriated on returning from her holiday in Serbia. As a result she could also not continue to follow a course she had started in Malta.

Mr Casha in his evidence said Mr Lazarevic had abandoned the apartment without notice. He had phoned and sent messages to him several times and got no reply.

He said he had also previously rented an apartment to Mr Lazarevic, which he had then left without notice, only to turn up later. In the latest case he only decided to change the lock after a month and a half. A colleague of Mr Lazarevic had been unable to tell him if Mr Lazarevic would return.

Ms Andric in an affidavit to the court said that on the day of her departure, she had spoken to Mr Casha and told him she would be returning in about three weeks’ time, a conversation which Mr Casha denied.

She and Mr Lazarevic also produced passport stamps to show they had returned to Malta within a month. Mr Lazarevic also displayed an SMS message he had sent to Mr Casha after a message from him, telling him that he was in Serbia, but would return to Malta.

With regard to the belongings that were thrown away, Mr Casha said the claims were exaggerated and the only computer he had found in the apartment was an old one.  There were no books, bags or make-up. The apartment, he said, was in a state of abandon. There was a stench and empty pizza boxes, as well as old, cement-smeared clothes and some other items including shoes and women’s old clothes.

In its considerations, the court observed that the parties had not presented a rental agreement and it was therefore not clear when rent was due and what related conditions there were.

It said that on the basis of the evidence, the landlord did not appear to be justified in concluding that the apartment had been abandoned by the tenant, more so when he knew that they were foreigners who needed to go to their home country to see their relatives. Nor did it result that rents were overdue.

Clearly, the landlord could not take the law into his own hands as he had done, without notice other than one telephone message. Nor could he dispose of the tenants’ belongings in a way that they could not be recovered.

The court, however, disputed the couple’s claim on the value of its belongings and noted the lack of evidence in this regard. It was one thing to leave a computer at home, but quite another to leave behind a gold necklace that could be easily stolen. Nor had it been proved that the couple owned and had left behind two bags worth €1,000 and €800 respectively.

The court also dismissed the claims by Ms Andric that she was repatriated because she lost the residence permit which she had kept at the apartment. Given that she had gone abroad,  it had been her responsibility, upon her return, to carry the permit with her, the court said. Nor had she provided evidence about the course she was supposedly following.

The court therefore ordered the landlord to pay his former tenants €3,000 in compensation.

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