Court orders Malta yacht club evicted from Ta' Xbiex premises

The Royal Malta Yacht Club has been ordered to vacate its Ta’Xbiex lido after a court declared that it had no legal title to the premises

The court said it reserved the Association’s right for eventual claims and further proceedings for damages and compensation for the occupation of the site
The court said it reserved the Association’s right for eventual claims and further proceedings for damages and compensation for the occupation of the site

The Royal Malta Yacht Club has been ordered to vacate its Ta’Xbiex lido after a court declared that it had no legal title to the premises.

Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri handed down the decision this morning in a case filed by the Malta Playing Fields Association.

The association had argued that it was given a 49-year emphyteusis over the 672sq/m site by the government in 2002. The land had been expropriated by the government in 2008 as part of a site later given to the yacht club.

But the MPFA had contested the validity of the expropriation order, winning a court case it filed in October 2015, in which the court had ruled that the expropriation was not carried out in the public interest.

The Royal Malta Yacht Club, however, insisted it had legal title over the property, saying it had acquired it in good faith under a legally binding contract.

The association could not ask the court to order its eviction, argued the RMYC, but could only request damages from whoever could have caused it such damages. The club, which had made thousands of euros worth of investment in the premises, reserved the right to itself sue the Lands Authority and Sport Malta for damages.

In its judgment on the matter, the court said that in view the appellate court decision in 2015 which held that the expropriation was null, it could not declare that the club had a valid title over the property, as this would contradict the previous decision on the illegality of the expropriation.

Upholding the MPFA’s arguments, the judge declared that the RMYC had no right to occupy the lido and ordered its eviction.

The court said it reserved the Association’s right for eventual claims and further proceedings for damages and compensation for the occupation of the site. 

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