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Insanitary Areas Ordinance (Cap. 103) Consolidated

CHAPTER 103

INSANITARY AREAS ORDINANCE

To make provision for the clearance of insanitary areas.

(7th July, 1939)*

ORDINANCE XXXV of 1939, as amended by Ordinance VI of 1959; Legal Notice 4 of 1963; Acts: LVIII of 1974, XLIX of 1981, XIII of 1983 and VIII of 1990; and Legal Notice 409 of 2007.

1. The short title of this Ordinance is Insanitary Areas

Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires -

the expression "building" includes a house, hut, tent, or other temporary or permanent form of shelter;
the expression "sanitary defects" includes lack of air, of space or of ventilation, darkness, dampness, absence of adequate and readily accessi ble water su pply or sanita ry accommodation or of other conveniences;
the expression "street" includes any court, alley, passage, square or other place of thoroughfare.

3. Where the President of Malta is satisfied as respects any area in Malta or Gozo -

(a) that the houses in that area are by reason of disrepair or sanitary defects unfit for human habitation, or are by reason of their bad arrangement, or the narrowness or bad arrangement of the streets, dangerous or injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the area, and that the other buildings, if any, in the area are for a like reason dangerous or injurious to the health of the said inhabitants; and
(b) that the most satisfactory method of dealing with the conditions in the area is the demolition of all the buildings in the area,
the President of Malta shall cause that area to be defined on a map in such manner as to exclude from the area every building which is not by him considered, for any of the reasons aforesaid, to be unfit for human habitation or dangerous or injurious to health, and shall, by Proclamation, declare the area so defined to be a clearance area, that is to say, an area to be cleared of all buildings in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance:
Provided that before declaring any area to be a clearance area, the President of M a lta shal l sat i sfy h imself th at su it ab le accommodation is or will be available for the persons who will be dis p lace d by the cleara n ce of the area in advance of the displacements which will from time to time become necessary as

Short title. Interpretation.

President may declare insanitary area to be clearance area. Amended by: LVIII.1974.68.

*See Proclamation No. XXXIII of the 7th of July, 1939.

t h e dem o l itio n o f b u ild ing s in that area, or in dif f er ent part s thereof, proceeds.

Competent authority to proceed to clear a clearance area Amended by:

VI. 1959.3.

4. (1) So soon as may be after an area has been declared to be a clearance area, the competent authority shall, in accordance with the appropriate provisions in this Ordinance contained, proceed to clear the area in one or other of the following ways, or partly in one of those ways and partly in the other of them, that is to say

(a) by ordering the demolition of any of the buildings in the area; or
(b) by purchasing any of the buildings comprised in the area and undertaking, or otherwise securing, the total or partial demolition of such buildings.
(2) The competent authority for the purpose of ordering the demolition of buildings in a clearance area shall be the Director of Public Wo rks, and the competent authority for the purpose of p u rchasin g an y bui ldi n g in th e area shall be the Accountant General.

Demolition orders.

Amended by:

LVIII. 1974.68.

Cap. 12.

5. (1) Where as respects any area declared to be a clearance area the Director of Public Works determines to order any building or buildings in the area to be demolished, he shall make and submit to the President of Malta for confirmation by him an order (in this Ordinan ce referred to as a "demoliti on order") ordering t h e demolition of such building or buildings.

(2) The demolition order shall be in the prescribed form and shall describe the building to which it applies, and shall fix the period wit h in which the D i rector of Public Wo rks requires the building in the area to be vacated for the purpose of demolition and for th at purpose may fi x diff erent periods a s respects diffe rent buildings.
(3) Before submitting the order to the President of Malta, the
Director of Public Works shall -
(a) publish in the Government Gazette a notice stating the fact of such an order having been made; and
(b) serve on the owner or owners, and on the lessee or occupier, of any building referred to in the order a notice stating the effect of the order and that it is about to be submitted to the President of Malta for confirmation, and specifying the time, not being less than twenty-one days, within which objections thereto can be made:
Provided that where the owner, or any of the owners, is unknown or uncertain or is absent or is a minor or an incapacitated person not legally represented, the notice aforesaid shall be served on curators to be appointed by the Civil Court, First Hall, to rep r esent that o w ner or owners i n term s of th e Code of Organization and Civil Procedure.
(4) Any owner and any other person having hypothecary rights or rights in rem over the building, may within twenty-one days of
the publication of the demolition order make objections thereto to the Board referred to in the following subarticle on the ground that the building is not unfit for human habitation for any of the reasons mentioned in article 3, or is capable, at a reasonable expense, of being rendered so fit for human habitation as to remove any danger or injury to the health of the occupants of such building.
(5) If no objection is made by any of the persons aforesaid, or if all objections so made are withdrawn, the President of Malta may confirm the order with or without modification; but in any other case he shall, before confirming the order, cause an inquiry to be held by a board (in this Ordinance referred to as "the Board") and shall consider any objection not withdrawn and the report of the Bo ar d, an d may th en co nfi r m th e or der , w i t h or wi th ou t modification, or reject such order.
(6) Where any demolition order is rejected as respects any particular building, such order shall not be deemed to apply thereto: pr ov id ed that any such building may be compulsori ly acquired under the provisions of the Land Acqu i s ition (Public Purposes) Ordinance.
(7) Where, in the opinion of the Board, any building which is not inherently insanitary, and which has been well maintained, has been included in a clearance area by reason o f the unhealthy condition due to congestion of the area, or by reason only of its bad arrangement in relation to other buildings, or of the narrowness or bad arrangement of the streets, the Board may recommend that such building be eligible for special compensation as provided in article
9(3); and, in confirming the order, the President of Malta may for the purposes of the payment of compensation declare such building
to be eligible for special compensation.
(8) The Board shall consist of not less than three persons appointed by the President of Malta one of whom shall be a person ho ld i n g a d i p l om a in pu bl i c h e a l t h , an ot he r sh al l be a p e rson p r acti s in g th e pr ofessi on o f ad voc a te, and the third a person practising the profession of arch itect and civil engineer. The Chairman of the Board shall be appointed by the President of Malta.
(9) So soon as may be after a demolition order has been confirmed by the President of Malta, the Director of Public Works shall publish in the Government Gazette a notice stating that the order has been confirmed and shall serve a like notice on every person who, having given notice of his objection to the order, shall have appeared in support of his objection at the inquiry held by the Board.
(10) The demolition order shall become operative from the publication of its confirmation in the Government Gazette.

Cap. 88.

Execution of demolition order and penalties for contravention. Amended by: L.N. 4 of 1963; III. 1983.5;

VIII. 1990.3;

L.N. 409 of 2007.

6. (1) When a demolition order has become operative, the tenants or occupiers of any building to which the order applies shall vacate such building within six weeks of such order or within such longer period as may be allowed by the Director of Public Works, and the owner or owners thereof shall demolish that building before the expiration of six weeks from the date on which the building is vacated, or before the expiration of such longer period as in the circumstances the Director of Public Works may deem reasonable to allo w, and , if th e b u ildi ng is n o t demolished b e fore th e expiration of that period, the Director of Public Works shall enter and demolish the building and sell the materials thereof.

(2) A building shall not be deemed to have been demolished by the owner or owners thereof so long as the materials have not been removed from the clearance area:
Provided that the Director of Public Works may give permission in writing for such materials or any pa rt ther eof to remain on the site after the demolition or for any building to be only partly demolished, if he is satisfied that such materials or the und emoli s hed p a r t o f su ch bu ild in g d o n o t ob struct th e development of the area in accordance with any scheme approved by the Minister responsible for public works and under the express condition that the eventual use by the Governm e nt of such materials or of the undemolished part of any such building shall not entitle the owner to compensation.
(3) Any expenses incurred by the Director of Public Works un der subarticle (1) shal l be d ed ucted from the am ount , i f any, realized by the sale of the materials but no further sum shall be recoverable from the owner or owners of the building in respect of the expenses of demolition.
(4) Any surplus remaining in the hands of the Director of Public Works from the proceeds of the sale of the materials after deducting therefrom the expenses of demolition shall be paid to the owner or owners of the building.
(5) Any person who, knowing that a demolition order has become operative and applies to any building, uses such building in contravention of the order, or permits it to be so used, shall, on conviction by the Court of Magistrates, be liable to fine (multa) not exceeding twenty-three euro and twenty-nine cents (23.29), and to a further penalty of two euro and thirty-three cents (2.33) for every day, or part of a day, on which he so uses it, or permits it to be so used, after conviction.

Building on clearance area. Amended by: L.N. 4 of 1963; XLIX. 1981.6.

Cap. 10.

7. When a demolition order has become operative, no land to whi ch the order applies shall be used for buil d ing purposes or otherwise developed except in accordance with a plan approved by the Minister responsible for public works in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Police Laws:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to limit or restrict the power of the Minister responsible for public works at any time to declare any area to be a planning area under the provisions of article 16 of the said Code.
8. (1) Where the Director of Public Works considers it inexpedient to order the demolition of any building included in a clearance area, he shall notify the Accountant General accordingly and thereupon the Accountant General shall submit to the President of Mal ta for confirm ation by him a comp ulsory purchase order d e cl ari ng th at th e bu il di ng i s req u i r ed to be pu rchased fo r t h e purposes of this Ordinance and any such order shall have the same effect for the purpose of any e xpropriation proceed ings as the declaration referred to in article 3 of the Land Acquisition (Public Purposes) Ordinance.
(2) Before submitting any compulsory purchase order to the President of Malta, the Accountant General shall comply with the provisions of article 5(2) to (10) (relating to a demolition order) and the provisions of those subarticles shall apply to a compulsory purchase order, as if for the word "demolition order" and "Director of Public Works", wherever they occur in those subarticles, there wer e substituted the words "compul sory p u rch a se order" and "Accountant General" respectively.

Compulsory purchase orders. Amended by: VI.1959.3; LVIII.1974.68.

Cap. 88.

9. (1) The compensation to be paid for any building included in a clearance area and in respect of which a compulsory purchase order has become operative, shall be the value, at the time when the valuation is made, of the land, as a site cleared of buildings and available for development, and shall include the value of materials less the cost of demolition; and, subject to this limitation, such compensation shall be assessed by the Land Arbitration Board in accordance with the provisions of the Land A c quisition (Pub lic Purposes) Ordinance.
(2) Where a building which has been compulsorily acquired under the provisions of this Ordinance is only partially demolished by the competent authority and where the undemolished part of the building is used by the competent authority in the construction of a new building, incl uding the foundations thereof, then the compensation aforesaid shall include the cost of the construction of that part of the existing building which is not demolished.
(3) Where any building is eligible for special compensation in accorda n ce with a declar ation of the Presid ent of Malta under article 5(7), the Land Arbitration Board shall -
(a) in the case of a building included in a demolition order grant compensation in such proportion to the value which would be assessable in respect of such building if it had not been included in the demolition order, as the Land Arbitration Board shall consider reasonable;
(b) in the case of a building included in a compulsory purchase order, grant in addition to the value of the land and of the materials in terms of subarticle (1), compensation in such proportion to the value which would be assessable in respect of such building if it had not been included in the compulsory purchase order, as the Land Arbitration Board shall consider reasonable.

Compensation. Amended by: LVIII.1974.68.

Cap. 88.

Cap. 88.

(4) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this article the provisions of this article shall not have effect in the case of any bu ildin g in r e spect o f whi c h a demol ition order or a compulsory purchase order has been rejected by the President of Malta, and t h e pro v ision s of t h e Land Acqui si tion (Pub lic Purposes) Ordinance, shall apply to any such building without any limitation.

Compensation for removal expenses. Amended by:

L.N. 4 of 1963.

10. (1) The Minister responsible for public works may authorize the payment to any person displaced from a building to which a demolition order or a compulsory purchase order applies, such reasonable allowance as he may think fit towards his expenses in removing, and to any person carrying on any trade or business in any such building the payment also of such reasonable allowance as he may thin k fit towards th e l o ss which, in the opi nion of th e Minister responsible for public works, he may sustain by reason of the disturbance of his trade or business consequent on his having to quit the building.

(2) Where the demolition or compulsory purchase of a building included in a clearance area is, in the particular circumstances, the cause of exceptional hardship to the owner or owners, the Minister responsible for public works may authorize the payment of a grant ex gratia to such owner or owners in addition to any compensation to which such owner or owners may be otherwise entitled under article 9(1), (2) and (3).

Power of Minister responsible for public works to make regulations. Amended by:

L.N. 4 of 1963.

11. The Minister responsible for public works may, by regulation -

(a) prescribe the form of demolition orders and compulsory purchase orders;
(b) confer powers on and prescribe the procedure of the
Board appointed for the purpose of this Ordinance;
(c) fix the fees payable in respect of proceedings before the Board;
(d) determine the manner in which the materials of any building may be sold or disposed of after demolition by the Director of Public Works; and
(e) generally, make provision for carrying this Ordinance into effect.