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The Housing (Decontrol) (Amendment) Act (Act No. Xviii Of 2007)

ACT No. XVIII of 2007

AN ACT to amend the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance (Cap. 158).

Short title. Cap. 158.

Amendment of article 12 of the principal law.

Addition of new article to the principal law.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1. The short title of this Act is the Housing (Decontrol) (Amendment) Act, 2007, and this Act shall be read and construed as one with the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance, hereinafter in this Act referred to as "the principal law".

2. In subarticle (1) of article 12 of the principal law, immediately after the words "of this article" there shall be added the words "and of article 12A".

3. Immediately after article 12 in the principal law there shall

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be added the following new article:

"Dwelling- houses subject to more than one emphyteusis.

12A. (1) This article shall apply:
(a) on the expiration of a temporary emphyteusis of sub-emphyteusis (hereinafter in this article referred to as "the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis") which is not one the effects of the termination of which are regulated by article 12(2)(a) or (b) or by article 12(4) or 12(5);
(b) of a dwelling house which at the time of the expiration of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis:
(i) is occupied by a citizen of Malta as his ordinary residence; and
(ii) is subject to another emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis (hereinafter in this article referred to as "the preceding emphyteusis or sub- emphyteusis") whether perpetual or temporary.
(2) On the expiration of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis the emphyteuta or the sub-emphyteuta who satisfies the requirements of subarticle (1)(b)(i) shall be entitled to continue in occupation of the dwelling house under a lease from the person holding the preceding emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis at the same rent and under the same conditions applicable according to article 12(2)(i) and (ii) which shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(3) On the expiration of the preceding emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis the lease mentioned in subarticle (2) shall remain in force for the same rent and under the same conditions as mentioned in subarticle (2) between the tenant and the person who from time to time would, were it not for the tenancy, be entitled to the vacant possession of the house.
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(4) The provisions of this article shall also apply in all cases where although the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis shall have expired before the 1st July 2007 the person who was the emphyteuta or the sub-emphyteuta in the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis still occupies the house as his ordinary residence on the said date.
(5) When on the expiration of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis the dwelling house is subject to a lease the provisions of article 12(3) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(6) The rights given by this article to the emphyteuta and to the sub-emphyteuta of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis shall, where the said emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta shall have died before the 1st July 2007, be exercisable by the person who resided with the said emphyteuta or sub-emphyteuta at the time of his death and had at that time all the other qualifications to be treated as a tenant for the purposes of article 12.
(7) Where in the case of a most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis which expires after the 1st July 2007 the emphyteuta, the sub- emphyteuta or the tenant occupying the house as his ordinary residence on the expiration of the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis is a person different from the person occupying the house as his ordinary residence on the 1st July
2007 the provisions of this article shall apply only in the cases mentioned in article 12(8)(a) and (b)
which paragraphs shall apply mutatis mutandis to the emphyteusis and the sub-emphyteusis regulated by this article, provided however that references to the "21st June 1979" are to be read and construed as references to the "1st July 2007", references to "the emphyteusis" are to be read and construed as references to "the most recent emphyteusis or sub-emphyteusis" and references to "the emphyteuta" shall be read and construed accordingly, and the reference to the "30th September 1979" shall be read and construed as a reference to the "31st December 2007".".
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4. The Civil Code (Amendment) Act, 2007 shall be amended as follows:

(1) in article 5 thereof -
(i) for the words "of any act of civil status registered before the 1st September, 2006" there shall be substituted the words "of any act of birth registered before the coming into force of this proviso";
(ii) paragraph (b) of the new proviso to subarticle (3) of article 251 of the Civil Code shall be substituted by the following:
"(b) when a child is born more than three hundred days from the legal separation, divorce or annulment of the marriage of the mother no reference shall be made to such legal separation, divorce or annulment of marriage;";
(iii) in paragraph (c) of the new proviso to subarticle (3) of article 251 of the Civil Code for the words "in the act of civil status" there shall be substituted the words "in the act of birth"; and
(iv) immediately after paragraph (c) of the new proviso to subarticle (3) of article 251 of the Civil Code there shall be added the following new paragraph:
"(d) when a child is born less than three hundred days from the legal separation, divorce or annulment of the marriage of the mother any reference to that fact shall remain.";
(2) in paragraph (b) of article 10, in sub-paragraphs (ii) and (iii) of the proviso to paragraph (e) of article 278 of the Civil Code there shall be substituted the following:
"(ii) when a child is born more than three hundred days from the legal separation, divorce or annulment of the marriage of the mother no reference shall be made to such legal separation, divorce or annulment of marriage of the mother;
(iii) when a child is born less than three hundred days from the legal separation, divorce or annulment of the marriage of the mother a reference shall be made to such fact in the act of birth instead of the words indicated in paragraph (i) of this

Amendment of

Act VIII of

2007.

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proviso;
(iv) where the provisions of article 280(2)(a) apply a reference to such fact shall be made in the act of birth."; and
(3) in article 11 thereof for the words "the mother’s status" there shall be substituted the words "the mother’s single status".
Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 553 of the
18th July, 2007.
ANTON TABONE

Speaker

RICHARD J. CAUCHI

Clerk to the House of Representatives