Expired permit paves way for Mintoff house renovation on rented land

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority normally requires proof that rural structures lying outside development zones (ODZ), were formerly used as residences before approving a change in use.

The derelict farmhouse to be converted
The derelict farmhouse to be converted
The view from the Delimara property
The view from the Delimara property

The Government Property Department has issued its consent to Yana Mintoff Bland, daughter of the late prime minister, in connection with a request to convert into a dwelling a derelict farmhouse on land in Delimara which the family has been renting.

Mintoff Bland has denied intending to sell the property at Xrobb l-Ghagin, which commands breathtaking views of Delimara, saying she does not own the land.

“It is not even mine. So how can I sell it? The property is in total disrepair and we simply want to restore it and render it habitable,” she told MaltaToday.

The family had been paying rent for this property on the government-owned land for the past decades. The land was the site of the former Deutsche Welle station.

Describing herself as an “environmentalist”, Mintoff Bland insisted that the land will remain under public ownership and that she has no intention of increasing the footprint of the existing building.

A MEPA case officer’s report has recommended approval for the regeneration of the farmhouse into a dwelling.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority normally requires proof that rural structures lying outside development zones (ODZ), were formerly used as residences before approving a change in use.

In this case MEPA resurrected an expired permit issued in April 2003 to justify the conversion. Mintoff Bland told this newspaper the farmhouse was used “on and off” in the past but was structurally unfit to be inhabited. A report by the MEPA case officer states that the property was “previously used by the Deutsche Welle” radio station.

The 2003 permit to demolish the farmhouse and build a dwelling was originally issued as part of compensation to Dom Mintoff as stipulated in an agreement in 2002 about the encroachment of the Delimara power station on his farmhouse. The development was never carried out and the permit expired.

Mintoff Bland said that the new application was not connected to this compensation agreement and that it retains the same footprint as the present derelict building.

Environmental directorate’s objections

MEPA’s Environment Protection Directorate is objecting to the permit, insisting that residences should not be allowed in this area, but MEPA’s case officer is insisting that the residential use has been established through the expired 2003 permit.

The EPD warned that the introduction of a “fully-fledged dwelling would undermine the rural characteristics of the area” leading to the “urbanization of an ODZ area.”

The EPD also warned of piecemeal additions once the residential use is established and consolidated.

Under MEPA’s rural development policy, farmhouses can only be developed into dwellings if these predate 1978 and their use as a residence was “legally established”.

Mintoff Bland’s application is deemed acceptable because it is limited to the site of the present building and does not take any new land. The present building is set over 100 square metres of land and occupies a floorspace of 168 square metres. Part of the building, formerly used as a kennel, will be transformed into a domestic store. 

Expired permits carry no legal validity

The permit issued in 2003 was for a floorspace of 225 sq.m in the vicinity of this property, in the context of the “out of court settlement” with Dom Mintoff’s dispute with the government on the location of the power station.

The permit was not issued to Mintoff himself but to the government. 

The permit expired after five years and no works were ever conducted. But while the 2003 permit has lost any legal validity, it is now being invoked by MEPA to fulfill the obligations of the rural policy.

Planning experts consulted by this newspaper expressed doubts on whether an expired permit carries any legal validity. “If the original permit established the use and the permit was never used, then such a use is lost and cannot be used in the new application.”

MEPA’s Environment Planning Commission will decide on this application on 12 February.

 

How the farmhouse was offered as compensation

After the construction of the Delimara power station, which overshadowed Dom Mintoff’s fabled countryside retreat, the Sant government in 1998 compensated the Mintoffs with land and a house at Fawwara, valued at Lm230,000 (€535,000 at today’s exchange rate), at its own expense, apart from Lm128,000 (€298,000) for damages.

The Mintoffs would however transfer their house at Delimara to the government. But this agreement fell through and discussions were then entered over another plot of land in Delimara.

In 2002 the government agreed to allow Mintoff to retain his property and instead apply for a development permit for the land at Xrobb l-Ghagin to construct a new building at the government’s expense. The Mintoffs would then purchase the building at market price, which would be set off against the compensation for damages due to the Mintoffs.

However, the agreement did not list the compensation due to the Mintoffs or the value of the building. The agreement also stipulated that the government was to pay the Mintoffs Lm80,000 by way of compensation for inconvenience.

Subsequently the government applied for a permit in Xrobb l-Ghagin which envisioned the demolition of the existing farmhouse and a new building over a larger footprint. This permit was issued in 2003.  

In 2004, the Constitutional Court concluded that Mintoff’s original house in Delimara had  “lost any subjective value for the Mintoffs” and that Mintoff’s human rights had been violated, ordering the sum of €830,000 in compensation.

While the 2002 agreement became “null and void” since the government had not authorized the development of the new house, all amounts paid to the Mintoffs were deducted from the damages payable. Mintoff appealed pressing for a higher compensation. 

In his appeal, Mintoff no longer demanded an alternative residence but higher damages; the government asked the courts to lower the amount awarded.

After his death, the Mintoffs sold the Delimara residence (l-Gharix) for €250,000 – substantially less than the compensation amount awarded.