Galea vs Avukat tal-Istat — Agricultural Rent Law Violates Property Rights

Malta's Chapter 199 agricultural lease legislation found to violate the landowner's fundamental property rights under Article 37 of the Constitution and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the ECHR, with compensation of €37,592.02 awarded against the State.

Civil Court First Hall (Constitutional Jurisdiction) · The Honourable Judge Dr Joanne Vella Cuschieri B.A., Mag. Jur. (Eur. Law.), LL.D. · 6 May 2026

Maria Lourdes Galea owns a plot of agricultural land known as 'Tax-Xarrijiet' in the limits of Rabat, Malta, in the area of Wied Liemu, measuring approximately 9,840 square metres. She acquired the land by way of donation from her mother Carmela Gatt in April 2015, who had herself inherited it from her own mother Nazzarena Gauci. The land had been leased to the Busuttil family since at least 1975 for the derisory annual rent of Lm12.71 (equivalent to €29.61), regulated under Chapter 199 of the Laws of Malta — the Agricultural Lease Renewal Act — which gave tenants near-permanent rights of occupation and automatic renewal, with virtually no mechanism for the owner to recover possession. Galea brought constitutional proceedings arguing that the provisions of Chapter 199, particularly Articles 3, 4 and 14, deprived her of the peaceful enjoyment of her property without fair compensation and without any realistic prospect of recovering possession. She argued this violated Article 37 of the Constitution of Malta and Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated under Chapter 319. She also initially claimed a breach of the right to a fair hearing under Article 39 of the Constitution and Article 6 ECHR, and sought a declaration that the tenants could no longer rely on Chapter 199, as well as monetary compensation. The court found that the lease had been in existence since at least 1974 and was clearly regulated by Chapter 199, as confirmed by rent receipts and testimony. It dismissed the Article 39/Article 6 fair hearing claims, finding no procedural unfairness — the complaints related to substantive law, not procedural rights. It also declined to strip the tenants of their Chapter 199 protections going forward, noting this was not the appropriate remedy. However, it upheld the claim regarding Article 37 of the Constitution and Article 1 of Protocol 1, finding that prior to the 2022 amendments (Act XXII of 2022, in force February 2023), the State had failed to strike a fair balance between the public interest in protecting agriculture and the landowner's right to fair compensation. The court calculated compensation for the period from May 2015 (when Galea acquired the property) to January 2023 (when the 2022 amendments came into force). Using the expert valuation by Technical Expert Perit Alexei Pace, who estimated the open-market rental value at €62,181.25 for the relevant period, the court applied deductions of 30% for the legitimate aim of the law and 20% for rental uncertainty, deducted the actual rent received of €229.48, and arrived at pecuniary damages of €34,592.02. It added €3,000 in non-pecuniary (moral) damages, for a total of €37,592.02, payable by the Attorney General with legal interest from the date of judgment. Costs, including those of the official letter, were charged to the State.

The court declared Chapter 199 (Articles 3, 4 and 14) to be in breach of Article 37 of the Constitution of Malta and Article 1 of the First Protocol of the ECHR. It awarded total compensation of €37,592.02 to Maria Lourdes Galea: €34,592.02 in pecuniary damages and €3,000 in non-pecuniary (moral) damages, plus legal interest from 6 May 2026 until effective payment. The Avukat tal-Istat (Attorney General/State Advocate) was condemned to pay this compensation plus all costs including those of official letter no. 1967/2022. The third request (to remove tenants' Chapter 199 protections) was rejected. The court ordered notification of its decision to the Speaker of the Maltese Parliament.

• In Maltese constitutional proceedings, a claimant need not prove absolute or original title to establish a breach of property rights — it is sufficient to show a right in the thing capable of resisting third-party claims, or possession of it (Robert Galea v Avukat Generali, 2017).
• Chapter 199 of the Laws of Malta (Agricultural Lease Renewal Act) has been repeatedly found by Maltese constitutional courts to violate landowners' fundamental property rights where the controlled rent is so low as to impose a disproportionate burden on the owner without just compensation.
• Act XXII of 2022 introduced a new Article 4(2A) into Chapter 199 creating a mechanism to set a fair rent not exceeding 1.5% per year of the free market value — but this only cures the breach prospectively; landowners can still claim compensation for the period before it came into force (February 2023).
• When calculating compensation for rent-control breaches, Maltese courts apply the Cauchi v Malta methodology: take the open-market rental value, deduct 30% for the legitimate aim of the law, deduct 20% for rental uncertainty, then subtract actual rent received — plus a separate non-pecuniary award typically around €500 per year of violation.
• Agricultural tenants (gabilotti) under Chapter 199 are necessary parties in constitutional proceedings challenging the law because the case directly affects their legal position — even though any compensation is ultimately payable by the State, not by the tenants themselves.
• The right to a fair hearing under Article 39 of the Constitution and Article 6 ECHR relates to procedural fairness in litigation, not to the substantive content of legislation — a complaint that a law is unfavourable to one party does not constitute a breach of the right to a fair hearing.

Constitution of Malta Art. 37 and Art. 39; European Convention on Human Rights (Chapter 319) Art. 6 and Art. 1 of Protocol 1; Agricultural Lease (Reletting) Act Chapter 199 of the Laws of Malta (Arts. 3, 4, 14), as amended by Act XXII of 2022

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