ACT No. XXXVII or 1989 AN A CTfurthl'r 10 ~nd Ihe Housing Act, Cop. 12J.

I !USent.

CL.S.)

C ENSU T ABONE

President

12th December , 1989

ACT No. XXXVII or 1989

AN A CTfurthl'r 10 ~nd Ihe Housing Act, Cop. 12J.

BE IT ENACTED by the President , by and with the advice and

conse nt of the House of Representatives, in this pre!iCnt Parliamen t 115'

sembled. and by the authority of the same, 115 follows: -

I. (I) This Act may be d ted 115 the Housing (Amendment) Act .

1989, and shall be read aDd construed 115 one with thoe Housing Act.

hereinafter referred 10 as "the principal Act".

Se<:tion 2 of the Principal Act shall be amended as follows: -

(a) for thoe defin ition of ~buildjng ,. there shall be substituted

the following definition

~ ·· bui lding" means a bouse orot ber building. or pa rt th ereof. used

or capable of use fo r reside ntial purposes. and includes any land or

garden forming an integral part. or enclosed with in the precincts. of

such a house orothc r bui ldi ng; bUI does not include a tenement fa l·

ling with..tn the defini tion of shop under sect ion 2 o fthe Relelting of

Urban Property ( Regulation) Ordinancc;~;

(b) Immcdillely after the de finition of ~building~ Ihere shall

be inse rted the following defintion

.. ··Director of Social Housing'· o r ~ Director" means the public of·

ficer appointed by the Prime Minister 10 be Ihe Director of Social

Housing for the purposes o f this Act;-;

(c) the definition of ~Secretary~ shall be deleted.

Except 115 provided in the following provisions of this Act.

whereve. in the prinicpa l Act the word ~Secretary- appears. there shall

be JUMti lUted the rdore the word ~ Director".

4 . For section 3 of the Principal Act there shall be substituted Ihe SbI>o<i<_

<>f $octiooo)

.,M

following

priocipool

If it appears to the DifClCtor o f Social Housing ~ .

J . (1)

10 be necessary or expedient so 10 do in the public interest,

_ but only for the purpose of providing livi ng accommodation

to pcr$()ns or of ensuring a fair distribut ion o f such living ac-

commodation . he may requisition any building. and may give

such directions as appear to him to be necessary orexpcdient

in order that the requisition may be put into effcct and com-

pli ed with .

(2) A requisition order made under subsect ion ( I)

of this section shall be served on the person entitled tothe im-

media te occupation of the building requisitioned, or his agent

Of representat ive , and where the buildi ng, is held by the oc-

cupant on lease, or on a temporary emphyteusis ellpi ri ng not

la ter than five years from the date of the o rde r, it shall abo be

served on the landlord or the direct owner, as the case may

be, or their agent or respresentative

Provided that where a title to any building as

aforesaid, or to its occupancy, belongs to more than onc per-

son. service of the requisition order on anyone of such pe r-

sons shall , in respect of the title held in common with others.

have effcct as. if it had been served also on all such ot her per-

~M .

(3) Where, after the exercise of d ue diligence, any

person on whom a requisition order is to be served, or his

agen t Of represe ntative , cannot be found, or if fo und re fuses

to accept Ihe order, tbe requisition order shalL be deemed to

have been validly served on such person, and on such other

persons as would have bee n deemed to be served with tbe

o rde r had it bee n served on such persons, if notice of the

o rde r is given in the Government Guelle and in not less than

th ree daily newspapers pu blished in Malta.

(4) A requisition order made and served in accor-

dance with the provisions of this section shall operate and

have full effect agaillSt all persons and shall remain so opera-

tive and effcctive until the building is derequisitioned .

(5) Any police office r not below the nmk of

sergeant

may, on instructions from the dircctor,

lake sudl sleps and use suc:h force as appear to him

to be reasonably Tl'ecessary for securing compliance with di-

rections given to any person under the provisions of this SC(:.

tion orof section 90fth is Act requiring him 10 give up posses-

sion of the building

Provided that the Dire<.."1or shall not give such in -

structions 1U aforesaid except in c~ scs connected with reoon -

struction or with replanning.or with mass evacution. or in the

case of unauthorited occupation , or in other cases which t he

Director dcclll5 urgent , and except so far IU they are reasona-

bly justifiabl.e in a democtratk society.

(6) Where a building requisitioned under this see-

tion is \acated :nj belongs in ab9oIuIe<M-'I1fTShip /;/Cm empll)'IeUSis

10 a person who pruycs to !he saliWaion of !he DiloclOi that he

intends to take possession of the buildin g to establi~h therein

his ordinary resideDCC or that of any of his children . the Direc-

tor shall allocate the building to such person, o r any of his

children aforesaid, IU the case may require ; and if such ordi·

nary residence is in fact so established within m months from

the date of the allocation , o r such later date as the Director

may for a good reason allow, and continues for a period of not

less than two ycars, the Director shall, ifhe is so requested,

derequisition the building.

(1) Where a requisition order has been made, and

the requillitionee shows 10 tbe sa tillfactio n of the Director that

he is unable to procure transport for the removal of, 01" alte r-

native storage place for , the furniture or other artitles exist·

ing in the building requisitioned, it shall be the duty of the Dj·

rector to provide such means of transport and alternative

storage plaee as may be required , without prejudiee to the

provisions cont ai ned in subsection (9) of this sedon.

(8) Wbere any requisition orde r is not oom plied

with , or where, afte r the exercise of due diligence, no person

having the right of immediate occupation of the building re-

quisitioned , or his agent or representative , can be found. the

Director may give such o rde rs as he may think fit for the re-

moval and storage of the furnilUre or articles existing in the

building

Provided that before such removal an inventory of

the furniture or artides aforesaid shall be made and signed by

the Director or his representative in the: presence o f a police

office r nOI below the ranlr. of se rgeant, whoshallal§() affix his

signature to the inventory .

(9) In every case where the transport o r , lOrage

place of furniture or articles is provided by the Director unde r

this section, such furni ture o r artides shall, during transport

and storage, remain at the sole risk of the owne r thereof and.

in respect of stortlge, likewise at his chargc; and no compensa -

tion shall be payable in respect of any deficiency therein or

damage the reto if it ill proved th~t such de.ficiencyor damage

was not caused by neglige nce o n the part o f the Director or

pel"$()ns acting 011 bis inst ructions.

(10) While a buildin g is in t he possess.ion o fthe Di -

reclor by virtue of this Act , the building may be used only for

the purposes set out in subsection ( I ) ofthis section , but. save

8Jl aforeuid , the Director, 50 far as il appeaa to him to be

necessary or expedient in connection with the taking of po$-

session o r use of the building in pursuance of this Act, may

do. or authorise persons using the building to do, in relation

to tbe building, anything which any person having an unre-

stricted interest in the building would be entitled todo by vir-

tue of that interest, .. ,

Section 4 oft he principal Act shall be amended hy the addition,

immediately after subsect ion (2) thereof. of the following new subsec-

M(3) WhO!;OCver knowingly gives any information

under the foregoing provisions of this set;t;on which is false or

incoTTect in any material particular shall be guilty of an of·

fence under this Act aDd shal l be liable. on conviction , to I

fine (mu/IQ) of ootlcss than one hundred liri but not e~a:ed­

ing five hundred liri or to imprisonment for a period of not

less than fifteen days and nOl elceeding three months, or to

both such fine and unprisonment , ",

6, For section 9 of the principal Act there shall besubstitu ted the

following;

9, Wbere a person has been accommodated in a build·

ing tcquisitioned under this Act , tile Director may , even

:;::,.:...,. toough such person pays compensation in respect of such le'

~~'_commodation, order him to quit such building and to SUlTen-

der the same to the Director within such time as the Di rector

:.q::.... may dete rmine, ;fhe is of opinion that such person is not mak·

ing use ofthe bu ilding for residential purposes, o r is the owner

of or has or who is otherwi5e provldcd wi th anotlicr building

which he can use as his and his family'S residence, or if il is

reasonably required so to act in the inte rests of defence,

public safety, public order or public licaJ th, ~ ' .

7, Section 14 of the principal Act shall be amended by the inser- Am<rodm<"'

:'_1''''

tion, immediate ly after paragraph (c) thereof, of the following new

par1lgrnph

M(d) for fixi ng storage feesn nd for providing for the retrieval

or disposition of furniture or art icles, including the sale Ihereor, re-

moved from s building requisitioned unde r this Act:" ,

--.

g, Section 16 of the principal Act shall be amended by the sub-

$tit ution of the words "a requisi tion ord er o r a notice" for th e words "s of_ion

,'" p,;,oaptol ACI,

Section 17 of the principal Act shall be amended by the sub-

stituion o f the wo rds and fi~ures " in subsections (I) and (2) of sect ion 4

of Ih is Act" · for the wo rds and figure ··in section 4 of lhis Act ".

W . I ne provISIOns of Ihe principal ACI. as in force before Ihe

coming into force o f (his Act. shall OOlwilhSlandin g the provisions o f this

Act, remain in fo rce as regards any requisition order which is in force

imm edi31 cly before the coming in to force ofl his Act. by means of which

a building is requisi tioned fOf any pu rpose which is not the purpose 10

provide living accomodation to persom or for ensurin g a fair

distribution of liying accomodalion. in such manner thal any reference

10 Ihe Secrela ry in Ihe principal Act, as such in force , shall be deemed as

a refe rence 10 the Director.

Passed by tbe House of Repre-senlallvcs 81 Sitting No. 315 o f Ille 4th December,

1989. LAWREN CE GONZI

Speaker

P . M USCAT TERRIBILE

Clerk /0 the House of Repuunlatives

Ippubl>hk .. "'od.Dipan .......... · ' .lnlonN:ujoni _ K .... il,. _ 1'MbI_ b, "" D<_"' ~f t"~ _

_ K4Uiljo

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PM"", ,......

M U",,'" n .b •• mpcII1" ,.I.(] .. m _ f'ri"mI .. tII<

Id-di spotizzjonijic:t ta' I-A ll printipali, kif fiS-5C hh qabcl il-

bidu flS-se hh la ' dan I-Att, gI'Iandhom minkejja d-d ispotizzjonijic: t ta'

da" I-All , jibqgl'lu ftS-sehh gI'Iar-rigward ta' kutl ordni ta' re kwiiiujoni

fis-se hh minnufih qabc:1 il·bidu fis-sehh ll' dan I-An. li bih bini jkun

re kwitiujonat ghat xi gI'Ian li ma jkunx l-gIlan biex jipprovdi lin-nia Iok

fe;n wic:hed jista' jghammar Jew biex jitgurn I-\qassim xieraq la' dawk

il·postijiet fe jn wiehed jista' jgllammar, b'dana li kutl rifercnza gIlas-

Segretarju floAt! prinCipali, kif hekk fi$-5Chh, ghandha titqies bhala

rifc rcnza ghad-Oireuur,

Mghoddi mill· Kamra tad·Deputat i fis-Seduta Nru . 31S 10'1-4 10' Oitembru , 1989.

LAwR£NCE GONZI

Spealc u

p, MUSCAT T ERRtBtLE

Skrivan /al- Kamra /ad·D~pwalj