AGRICULTURAL LEASES REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 199.01

AGRICULTURAL LEASES REGULATIONS

21st June, 1967

LEGAL NOTICE 41 of 1967, as amended by Legal Notices 35 of 1972,

139 and 200 of 2000, and 410 of 2007; Act XIII of 2015, Legal Notices 246

of 2019 and 401 of 2021.

The title of these regulations is the Agricultural Leases

Regulations.

Added by

L.N. 35 of 1972.

TARIFF A

Substituted by

L.N. 139 of 2000.

Amended by

Registry fees payable in the Rural Leases Control Board

L.N. 200 of 2000.

Substituted by

1 For the filing of any claim .......................................

€40.00

L.N. 410 of 2007;

XIII. 2015.67.

2 For the filing of any reply ........................................

€25.00

3 For the filing of any application of appeal ...............

€80.00

4 For the filing of an answer to an application of appeal

€50.00

5 The fees established in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Tariff

shall include the filing of all other acts of procedure and

services (including but not limited to the filing of

warrants for the examination of witnesses, the

examination itself, recording fees, transcriptions and

copies, the services of judicial assistants, decrees and

declarations prior to definitive judgement, taxed bill of

costs and copies of the judgement) required following the

initiation of the cause through the said act up to and

including final judgement but excluding any fees due for

notification of the acts of procedure or any fees due to

referees or experts appointed by the Board or any fees

which the Board may be required to pay to third parties.

6 (1) No fee shall be levied for the filing of any note of

admission of a claim provided that the claim is admitted

in full and unconditionally before any contestation

thereon.

(2) Any counter-claim contained in any act of

procedure shall be treated as if it is a new claim and the

fees set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall be levied on the

counter claim and the reply thereto.

(3) The fees stated in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall also be due

on the filing of any application to the Board to be

permitted to file any statement of defence, answer or

other act of procedure filed in reply to a claim and

intended to contest, whether totally or partially, a claim

made.

7 (1) For every notification of an act of procedure,

including expenses incurred in the execution of such

notification, the following fees shall be due

(i)

registry fee ...................................................

€6.00

(ii)

fee due to the executive officer effecting the

service .........................................................

€1.20

Provided that if service is to be effected outside normal

working hours, the fees contained in this paragraph shall

be increased by 100%.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Tariff

if the service of any act is to be executed personally by an

executive officer of the Board, in cases where the law

permits that service be effected otherwise, the following

additional fees shall be due, for each notification

(i)

registry fee ...................................................

€25.00

(ii)

fee due to the executive officer effecting the

service .........................................................

€7.00

(3) The fees established in sub-paragraph (2) shall not

apply when service is to be effected personally by an

executive officer of the Board in terms of any law, and in

such cases the fees established in sub-paragraph (1) of

this paragraph shall apply.

8 For any other act of procedure indicated in the

Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act but for which no fee

is established in these Tariffs ............................................

€15.00

Provided that fees for services not specifically provided

for in this Tariff but provided for in other Tariffs

contained in the Code of Organization and Civil

Procedure shall be taxed according to those Tariffs.

9 For the opening of the registry outside working hours

(i)

registry fee ...................................................

€120.00

(ii)

fee due to attending deputy registrar ............

€50.00

(iii) fee due to each executive officer required to

effect service ................................................

€35.00

10 (1) The Board may, when delivering judgement, order

that the plaintiff or defendant in a cause pay increased

costs to the Registrar of Courts of not less than €232.94

and not more than €582.34 if the Board deems that the act

of procedure initiating the claim or the act of procedure in

reply was frivolous or vexatious or that either of the

parties has unnecessarily prolonged the proceedings and

in such case such sum will not be recoverable from the

other party.

No appeal shall lie from the decision of the Board.

(2) The Board may, when delivering judgement, also

refer to the Commission for the Administration of Justice

the advocate of the plaintiff or of the defendant if the

Board deems that the advocate is responsible, wholly or

partly, for the frivolous or vexatious act of procedure or

for prolonging the proceedings.

No appeal shall lie from the decision of the Board.

11 (1) All fees due shall be paid together with the filing of

the relative act and the Registrar shall not accept for filing

any act of procedure, which is not accompanied by the

relative fee.

(2) The assessment of the Registrar on the amount of

fees to be paid shall be final.

(3) In assessing the fees laid down in this Tariff no

account shall be taken of any fraction of €2.33.

12 (1) The Registrar shall cause a taxed bill of costs to be

kept in the file of each cause and shall immediately enter

therein all payments made to him and all payments due to

the advocates and legal procurators of the parties and the

parties and their advocates and legal procurators shall

have the right to a copy thereof at any time.

(2) Within one month of the delivery of the definitive

judgement, the Registrar shall cause a final taxed bill of

costs to be drawn up.

TARIFF B

Advocate’s or Legal Procurator’s Fee

1. For each judgment on the amount of compensation

claimed or awarded (whichever shall be the higher)

(a)

in respect of the first €465.87, per €100 ...................

€5

(b) in respect of any amount in excess of the first

€465.84, and up to a further €698.81, per €100 .................

€3

(c) in respect of any amount in excess of the first

€1,164.69, and up to a further €2,329.37, per €100 ...........

€2

(d) in respect of any amount in excess of €3,494.06, per

€100 ..................................................................................

€1

2. In cases of judgments of non-suit given on pleas

touching the principal merits of the application, the fee under

paragraph 1 shall be taxed; in all other cases of judgments of

non-suit, one-half of the above fee shall be taxed.

3. In case of discontinuance -

(a) after the application has been filed, there shall be

allowed to the advocate or legal procurator of the

applicant one-third of the fee under paragraph 1;

(b) after a reply to the application has been drafted,

there shall be allowed to the advocate or legal procurator

of the respondent one-third of the fee under paragraph 1.

4. In case of compromise or discontinuance at any other

stage of the proceedings subsequent to contestation but prior

to the hearing of the application, or in case of admission at

any stage prior to the commencement of the hearing, there

shall be allowed one-half of the fee under paragraph 1.

5. In case of compromise or discontinuance or admission

after the commencement of the hearing, there shall be

allowed two-thirds of the fee under paragraph 1.

6. In case of compromise or discontinuance or admission

after the application has been adjourned for judgment, the

whole fee under paragraph 1 shall be allowed.

7. (a) If more than one Advocate or more than one legal

procurator or if an advocate and a legal procurator are briefed

by the same party in the same proceedings, each of the said

advocates and/or legal procurators shall be entitled to the

whole fee taxed as in the preceding paragraphs of this Tariff

Provided that the party in whose favour the head of

costs is decided shall not be entitled to claim from the

party cast more than one such whole fee.

(b)Where there are two or more applicants or two or

more respondents to the same proceedings, each of the

applicants or respondents shall be entitled to have his

own advocate or legal procurator, and the party ordered to

pay the costs shall be bound to pay the proper fees of all

the advocates or of all the legal procurators on the

prevailing side so long as no one party claims costs in

respect of more than one legal practitioner.

8. If an advocate or legal procurator abandons or is

abandoned by his client -

(a) after the application or the reply has been filed, he

shall be entitled to one-third of the normal fee;

(b) after the above stages but before the proceedings

have been adjourned for judgment, he shall be entitled to

two-thirds of the normal fee.

9. The fee due to an advocate or to a legal procurator

whose services have been engaged after the former advocate

or legal procurator has been abandoned by or has abandoned

his client before the proceedings are concluded shall be equal

to the difference between the full fee and the fee taxed to the

former advocate or legal procurator.

10. In every case covered by paragraphs 8 and 9 of this

Tariff, the party engaging the services of more than one

advocate or legal procurator, one after the other, who happens

to be on the prevailing side, cannot claim from the party cast

more than one whole fee.

11. The minimum fee due under this Tariff to any advocate

or to any legal procurator shall never be less than nine euro

and thirty-two cents.

TARIFF C

Added by

L.N. 401 of 2021.

Fees payable to Members of the Panel of Architects

and Civil Engineers

The fees payable to any member of the Panel of Architects and Civil

Engineers in respect of the valuation of any agricultural land or the

giving of any technical opinion in connection with any case before the

Rural Leases Control Board or of the rendering of any other services

required by the said board shall be taxed according to Schedule A of

the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure only up to the total all-

inclusive amount for all valuations, opinions and other services of five

hundred euro (€500), and when according to the said Schedule A the

total fees would exceed the amount of five hundred euro (€500) the

said Schedule shall not apply in respect of such excess.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Act" means the Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act;

"Board" means the Rural Leases Board established under article

5 of the Act;

"by electronic means" means online;

"agricultural land" means the land in respect of which an

application is made.

(1)

The Registrar of the Superior Courts or any person

acting in his stead and on his behalf in accordance with the

provisions of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure

(hereinafter referred to as "the Registrar") shall be the Registrar of

the Board in regard to any proceedings which concern land situated

in the Island of Malta.

(2) The Registrar of the Court of Magistrates of Gozo or any

person acting in his stead and on his behalf in accordance with the

said provisions (hereinafter referred to as "the Registrar") shall be

the Registrar of the Board in regard to any proceedings which

concern land situated in the Island of Gozo or Comino.

(1) The application to the Board, besides the indications

common to judicial acts, shall contain a brief statement of the facts

upon which the Board is to decide as well as the grounds and the

object of the application.

(2) The Board may, at any time, allow any amendments to be

made in the application for the purpose of making it clearer.

(3) The application may be filed by the applicant or one of the

applicants or by the advocate or legal procurator who has signed it.

(1) There shall be an electronic mechanism by means of

which applications that initiate a procedure or a reply thereto, may

be filed by electronic means in the Board.

(2)

These regulations shall apply only to those acts indicated

in the electronic mechanism mentioned in regulation 4A(1).

(3)

Any advocate or legal procurator who wants to file these

acts, as indicated in these regulations, by electronic means, may do so

by filing such acts online through the appropriate site and paying the

prescribed fee.

(1) The Registrar or persons delegated by him may receive

acts filed by electronic means.

(2)

The Registrar shall issue a copy of the acts filed by

electronic means and the said copies issued by the Registrar shall for

all intents and purposes of law be considered as the original.

(3)

Acts filed by electronic means shall, for all intents and

purposes of law, be deemed filed as if they have been filed directly in

the Registry of the Board

Provided that when an act is filed by electronic means outside

registry opening hours as established by the Code of Organization and

Civil Procedure, such act shall be deemed to have been filed on the

first following day of the opening of the said Registry.

The application shall be filed with as many copies as are

required to be served on the parties with whom there is contestation

and a copy, with an indication therein of the date and time of the

first hearing of the application, shall be served on each such party

at least fifteen working days before such date.

The date and time of the first hearing of an application

shall be communicated to the applicant by notice served upon him

at least seven working days before such date.

The Registry fees to be assessed by the Registrar on the

filing of any act shall be in accordance with the fees shown in

Tariff A contained in the Schedule.

(1) There shall be payable to the advocate or legal

procurator assisting or assisting and appearing on behalf of a party

in the proceedings before the Board a fee to be computed as

follows

(a) where the proceedings are in respect of an application

made under article 3 of the Act, a fee equal to one

year’s rent of the agricultural land or six euro and

ninety-nine cents (6.99), whichever is the lesser

amount

Provided that in no case shall such fee be less

than two euro and thirty-three cents (2.33);

(b) where the proceedings are in respect of an application

made under article 4 or article 13 of the Act -

(i)

a fee equal to six months’ rent of the agricultural

land or six euro and ninety-nine cents (6.99),

whichever is the greater amount, in respect of

the demand for the resumption of possession of

the agricultural land in question, and

(ii) a fee assessed by the Registrar in accordance

with Tariff B contained in the Schedule;

(c) where the proceedings are in respect of an application

made under article 25 of the Act, a fee assessed by the

Registrar in accordance with Tariff B contained in the

Schedule.

(2) In addition to the fee due in accordance with sub-

regulation (1), there shall also be payable to the advocate or legal

procurator for any judicial act, except the application referred to in

article 3, 4, 13 or 25 of the Act, filed for the purpose of the

proceedings before the Board, (and any reply thereto) and for every

attendance at inspections in faciem loci ordered by the Board or

required by the client the fee chargeable in accordance with Tariff

G of Schedule A to the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure.

There shall be kept a record of all the proceedings of the

Board and all evidence shall be taken in writing.

The service of all warrants, orders or other acts of the

Board shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the

Code of Organization and Civil Procedure and those provisions

shall, as far as possible, apply to proceedings before the Board.

Except where otherwise provided, the costs of the

proceedings before the Board and the registry fees chargeable for

acts filed in connection with such proceedings shall be assessed in

accordance with the tariffs annexed to the said Code.

The fees payable to members of the Panel of Architects and

Civil Engineers shall be those provided for in Tariff C.

The Registrar shall provide the necessary personnel for the

holding of sittings and for the execution of the orders of the Board

the officials so designated shall, in the execution of their duties,

enjoy and exercise all such powers as are vested by the Code of

Organization and Civil Procedure in officials performing similar

duties.

It shall be lawful for the Board to order inspections to be

held in faciem loci by the whole Board or by one or more of its

members.

(1) Any decision of the Board shall be signed by the

Chairman and countersigned by the Registrar.

(2) The Registrar shall have power to give certified copies of

decisions or orders of the Board on payment of the fees prescribed

in respect of copies issued by the Registry of the Court.