Philip Grech’s house was requisitioned by the Nationalist government in 1967 and then turned into a Labour party club – now that he finally got compensation for the requisition, he also wants the property back
David Darmanin Philip Grech, a senior citizen whose family home in Santa Venera was requisitioned by the Nationalist government in 1967 – only to be taken over, abusively, by the Labour Party for its clubhouse six years later – said that after more than thirty years, his “family is finally seeing the light of day”.
Grech, 81, was last Thursday awarded €75,000 in damages after a constitutional court ruled that his fundamental human rights had been breached when his property was requisitioned without compensation.
For six years after the issue of the requisition order, the imposing property was left unused by the Nationalist government, until the Labour government in 1973 broke into the vacant house, stored the Grechs’ furniture at an undisclosed location, imposed a paltry, take-it-or-leave-it rent to be paid to the Grech family and transformed the premises into a Labour Party club. Until this day, the PL still tenants the building.
In the aftermath of the court ruling however, the PN took the opportunity on Thursday to lambaste the Opposition for being the cause of €75,000 in “taxpayers’ money” that will have to be paid for the “PL’s abusive behaviour”.
But the statement did not go down well with the Grech family. “It is quite clear that this is an injustice which has been perpetuated by both the PN and PL administrations,” legal counsel Dr Claire Bonello said.
“The PN government originally requisitioned the property for no discernible public purpose and left it unused for many years, allowing the PL to step in and lease it out. The PL continues to occupy the premises despite knowing that it is imposing a burden on the owners.
“The Nationalist government, however, has done absolutely nothing to safeguard the rights of owners of properties leased out as clubs. The recent rent law reform does not cover clubs, and so my clients will continue to receive the same paltry rent and cannot resume possession of their property in the foreseeable future. It is astoundingly hypocritical of the PN government to use this, and similar cases, as a stick with which to beat Labour – and not do anything to help out the owners.”
Clearly upset by this long-standing situation, Philip Grech said he feels “let down by the PN, the party my family and I have always voted for… our party.”
The owners of the property now want the PL to vacate the premises at all costs. “If we do not manage in Malta, we are ready to take the issue to the European courts,” he said.
In the mid-nineties, Grech discovered that the occupants of his family home had pulled down walls and carried out structural alterations without consent, so court action was initiated in order to get them evicted, as is stipulated by law. “The court had ruled in our favour, but the tenants appealed and the decision was revoked,” he said. “We retried but it is very difficult for an appeal decision to be rescinded.”
Last year, a lawyer representing the PL wrote to the Grechs, “cheekily requesting the repair of a balcony that had been damaged.” Upon receipt of the letter, Mr Grech appointed an architect to carry out a survey – only to find that the damage caused to the balcony was due to negligence on the tenants’ part.
“I also asked the architect to inspect the entire building, and it resulted that there was extensive damage inside the property since the tenants never to care of it,” he said.
A fresh lawsuit was filed, with a first sitting scheduled in the forthcoming days. The landlords are hoping that the court rules in their favour this time around.
Dud rent law The exoneration of clubs from the newly launched rent laws means that premises rented to political parties at a pittance remain protected by outdated laws from the 1930s, leaving minimal space for the owners to enjoy or exercise any of their rights.
Eviction becomes a near-impossible feat, the rent charged goes nowhere near market rate, and most maintenance costs would need to be borne by the owners.
“We had written to Minister John Dalli when the new rent laws were being drafted, and we brought this issue to his attention – but to no avail. Once the reform was announced, the same minister had boasted that consensus was reached by both the government and the PL after they sat around a table to discuss the details of the new law,” Grech said.
“Both parties know that people’s property has been evicted and that is still being occupied for political reasons. Both parties want these properties to remain protected under old laws. So why did the PN now issue a statement criticising the PL for not handing us the keys to our property? Didn’t they make the same mistake when they exonerated them when passing the new law? Who is in government?”
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