€169,000 for baroness in fourth compensation for Valletta property

European Court of Human Rights orders €169,000 in additional compensation to baroness unable to charge market rental rates over Valletta property

Agnes Gera de Petri Testaferrata has already been awarded €160,000 by the ECHR in pecuniary damages and just satisfaction in 2013 in connection with her being deprived of the property, a far cry from the €6.6 million in damages she had originally requested. She was previously awarded €641,000 in compensation by a Maltese court of appeal for having been deprived of the use of the property between 1967 and 2007
Agnes Gera de Petri Testaferrata has already been awarded €160,000 by the ECHR in pecuniary damages and just satisfaction in 2013 in connection with her being deprived of the property, a far cry from the €6.6 million in damages she had originally requested. She was previously awarded €641,000 in compensation by a Maltese court of appeal for having been deprived of the use of the property between 1967 and 2007

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the government to pay €169,000 in additional compensation to a baroness who had been unable to charge market rental rates over a Valletta property leased to Lombard Bank under the old rent laws, ruling that the Maltese Constitutional Court’s award of just €80,000 for the breach of her right to private property had merely cemented her victim status.

Agnes Gera de Petri Testaferrata, the Marchioness of San Vincenzo Ferreri and Baroness of Qlejja, successfully sued the Maltese government in the Strasbourg court over an order issued in 1958 taking control of property she owned in Valletta, which formed the annexe to the Manoel Theatre, subject to payment of annual compensation.

The applicant’s property is situated at 68 and 68A in Republic Street, Valletta, currently housing Lombard Bank. On the lapse of the contract, the bank continued to occupy the property exercising its right to an automatic renewal of the lease by operation of the provisions of the special rent laws, namely The Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance by which it continued paying the same amount of rent which had been established in 1977, until 2009, when the rent started being revised in accordance with the law.

This is the fourth time Gera de Petri has received compensation over the lease of the property, having previously been awarded €641,000 in compensation by a Maltese court of appeal for having been deprived of the use of the property between 1967 and 2007, as well as €25,000 in non-pecuniary damages in April 2011 when the European Court of Human Rights had found violations of her rights to a fair hearing and private property.

She was subsequently awarded another €160,000 by the ECHR in pecuniary damages and just satisfaction in 2013 in connection with her being deprived of the property .

This was a far cry from the €6.6 million in damages Gera de Petri had originally requested in her application to the European Court of Human Rights.

Gera De Petri then instituted further constitutional redress proceedings complaining of a violation of her property rights. By a judgement of 29 November 2019 the Constitutional Court confirmed the first-instance judgement, which had found a violation of  her rights and awarded her €80,000 in compensation. The court had noted that the tenant in the present case was not in need of social accommodation but operated a commercial bank; and that the economic needs of the country had developed with time.

The applicant had already suffered a disproportionate burden for 12 years in the light of the low amount of rent, the Constitutional court had noted, but pointed out that a constitutional remedy was not intended to cover civil damage, but only losses in connection with the breach. A new lease agreement had also subsequently been entered into by the parties, noted the court.

The baroness then took the case to Strasbourg, complaining that the figure awarded in compensation was too low, arguing that it constituted a continued violation of her rights.

In a decision handed down on 28 April, the ECHR upheld Gera De Petri’s complaint, ruling that the amount of compensation awarded for a violation persisting over a decade was not adequate and that the redress provided by the domestic courts did not offer sufficient relief to the applicant, confirming her victim status for the purposes of the human rights complaint.

The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Committee composed of judges Erik Wennerström, Lorraine Schembri Orland and Ioannis Ktistakis, ruled that, as had already been established by the domestic courts, Gera De Petri had been made to bear a disproportionate burden.

Noting in particular that the award of the Constitutional Court has been paid, the Court awarded the baroness €160,000 in compensation for pecuniary damage and €4,000, plus any tax that may be chargeable on that amount, in respect of non pecuniary damage. The Court awarded a further €5,000 for costs and expenses before the domestic and European courts.