Court orders dissolution of Għajn Tuffieħa emphyteusis after finding decades-long breach

The Civil Court, First Hall, has ordered the dissolution of a 1960 emphyteutical concession over land in Għajn Tuffieħa, ruling NMF Limited breached an express condition requiring the operation of the adjacent Riviera Hotel.

The judgment, delivered on Monday, authorises the Lands Authority to resume possession of the emphyteutical site and declares all objections raised by the company unfounded.

The case concerned a perpetual emphyteusis granted in 1960 for the extension of the Riviera Hotel onto government land in Għajn Tuffieħa.

The Lands Authority filed proceedings in 2008 seeking dissolution of the concession after the hotel had remained closed for decades, triggering a resolutive clause in the original deed.

The court noted the hotel had been shut by at least 1988 and that the condition requiring it to remain open operated as a praedial servitude benefitting the emphyteutical land.

That condition was not extinguished when NMF redeemed the ground rent in 2008.

The court found that the long-term closure, and the failure of successive owners to keep the hotel operational, constituted a breach attributable to the emphyteusis.

In its judgment, the court rejected all preliminary pleas raised by NMF Limited. Arguments based on prescription were dismissed after the court held that the thirty-year period applied and had not elapsed by 2008.

The court also ruled that acceptance of ground rent and recognition of NMF as emphyteuta did not amount to a waiver of rights, as these acts were compatible with the Authority’s continued ability to seek dissolution.

The court further held that redemption of the ground rent consolidated ownership but did not extinguish contractual obligations containing an element of property. It characterised the obligation to keep the hotel operating as a servitude tied to the use and destiny of the land, surviving redemption.

On the merits, the court concluded that Condition Five of the 1960 deed expressly allowed the government to resume possession if the hotel remained closed for one year or for broken periods amounting to thirty months in four years.

That condition had been triggered long before proceedings were filed.

The court found no justification for the prolonged closure, noting that planning difficulties related only to the proposed extension, not to the operation of the existing hotel.

Given the duration of the breach, the court declined to grant time for purgation and limited the scope of devolution to the red-hatched area on the original plan.

The company’s rights to compensation for improvements, as stipulated in the 1960 deed, were left unaffected.

The court authorised the Lands Authority to resume possession of the emphyteutical site, ordered NMF Limited to evacuate the land, and appointed Notary Keith Francis German to publish the deed of dissolution and devolution on 22 December 2025.

NMF was also ordered to pay the costs of the case.