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The Housing (Decontrol) (Amendment) Act, 2007 (Bill No. 90)

A BILL

entitled

AN ACT to amend the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance (Cap. 158).

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Short title. 1. The short title of this Act is the Housing (Decontrol) (Amendment) Act, 2007, and this Act shall be read and construed as one with the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance, hereinafter in this Act referred to as "the principal law".

Amendment of article 12 of the principal law.

Addition of new articles to the principal law.

2. In subarticle (1) of article 12 of the principal law, immediately after the words "of this article" there shall be added the words "and of articles 12A, 12B and 12C".

3. Immediately after article 12 if the principal law there shall be added the following new articles:

"Dwelling- houses subject to more than one temporary emphyteusis.

12A. (1) This article shall apply at the expiration of a temporary emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis, (hereinafter referred to as "the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis") which does not fall under the provisions of article 12(2)(a) or (b), of a dwelling-house, which is subject to another antecedent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis, whether perpetual or temporary, which preceding emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis will still be running at the time of the expiration of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis:

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Provided that such dwelling-house shall also be occupied, at the time of the termination of the most recent emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis, by a citizen of Malta as that citizen’s ordinary residence.
(2) The emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta referred to in the proviso of the preceding subarticle shall have the right to extend the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis which will have been terminated for the period of the term of the first emphyteutical concession on the land on which the dwelling-house is built.
(3) The extension referred to in subarticle (2) shall be made under the same conditions of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis except as regards those conditions which refer to the period of time and to the ground-rent or sub-ground-rent.
(4) The ground-rent or sub-ground rent payable by the emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta referred to in subarticle (2) throughout the period of the extension referred to in the same subarticle, shall amount to the ground-rent or sub-ground-rent which was due under the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis to which shall be added an amount which reflects the increase in the Index of Inflation incorporated in the Schedule to this Ordinance between the year 1946 or the year of commencement of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis, whichever is the later, and the year when the extension is made. That amount of ground-rent or sub-ground-rent is to be subsequently increased every fifteen years in accordance with the said Index of Inflation.
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(5) The ground-rent due throughout the period of the extension shall be paid to the emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta who will have given out the most recent emphyteutical or sub- emphyteutical concession until the termination of his emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis and shall subsequently continue to be paid to that emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta from whom was derived the original title of the emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta who would have made the most recent emphyteutical or sub-emphyteutical concession, and when that emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis is terminated the payment shall be made to the former emphyteuta or sub- emphyteuta and the process shall be repeated until each temporary emphyteutical concession is terminated where the payment shall be due to the holder of the perpetual emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis, in which case the provisions of article 12B shall commence to apply, or, in the absence of a perpetual emphyteusis, to the owner of the land upon which the dwelling house is built, in which case the provisions of article 12 shall commence to apply.
(6) Subarticles (5) and (6) of article 12 shall mutatis mutandis apply to this article.
(7) Subarticle (7) of article 12 shall mutatis mutandis apply to this article and shall have effect as if for the words "21st June 1979" there were substituted the words "31st December 2006".
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Dwelling- houses subject to temporary emphyteusis and perpetual emphyteusis.

12B. (1) Where there occurs the termination of a temporary emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis, which is not an emphyteusis referred to in article 12(2)(a) or (b), of a dwelling-house which, apart from that emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis, is also subject to a perpetual emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis which is in force at the time of the termination of the first-mentioned emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis, and that dwelling-house is, at the time of the termination of the first-mentioned emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis, occupied by a citizen of Malta as that citizen’s ordinary residence, the first-mentioned emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta shall have the right to convert the emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis into a perpetual one.

(2) The extension referred to in subarticle (1) shall be made under the same conditions as the first-mentioned emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis except as regards those conditions which refer to the period of time and to the ground-rent or sub-ground-rent.
(3) The ground-rent or sub-ground-rent payable by the first-mentioned emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta with effect from the concession referred to in subarticle (1) shall amount to the ground-rent or sub-ground-rent which was due under the first-mentioned emphyteutical or sub- emphyteutical concession to which shall be added an amount which reflects the increase in the Index of Inflation incorporated in the Schedule to this Ordinance between the year
1946 or the year of commencement of the first- mentioned emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis, whichever is the later, and the year immediately preceding the year when the extension is made. That amount of ground-rent or sub-ground-rent is to be subsequently increased every fifteen years in accordance with the said Index of Inflation:
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Provided that if the ground-rent or sub- ground-rent will have already been increased in accordance with article 12A, the increase contemplated in this subarticle shall not be made and the ground-rent or sub-ground-rent payable shall be that which results in accordance with the said article 12A and it shall subsequently be increased every fifteen years as calculated in accordance with the said article.
(4) Subarticles (5) and (6) of article 12 shall mutatis mutandis apply to this article.
(5) Subarticle (7) of article 12 shall mutatis mutandis apply to this article and shall have effect as if for the words "21st June 1979" there were substituted the words "31st December 2006".

Time-limit. 12C. (1) In the cases referred to in articles 12A and 12B, where the last emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta or occupier will not have exercised his right at the termination of the emphyteusis which will have occurred before the 31st December, 2006, the time-limit for the exercise of such right shall be the 31st December, 2007 in the case of the emphyteuta and the sub-emphyteuta, and the 31st March,

2008, in the case of the occupier.
(2) Where the ground-rent was established prior to the year 1946, before applying the Index of Inflation, which is included in the Schedule to this Ordinance, the amount of ground-rent shall be doubled for every previous period of thirty years or part thereof.".

Objects and Reasons

The objects of this Bill are to regulate the situation of a dwelling-house which is-subject to an emphyteutical or sub- emphyteutical concession at the termination of a temporary emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis.