Tenant gets €35k in damages for 18-year court delay
A man has been awarded €35,000 in compensation over a violation of his human rights, after a court case over rent payment due to his landlord dragged on for 18 years and raised the accumulated interest far higher than the sum he originally owed.
Presiding over the constitutional court, Madam Justice Anna Felice ruled that the delay was mostly attributable to the judicial system, after the case was put off for final judgment for almost eight years.
The landlord, Ġiljan Agius, instituted a court case against the tenant, Mark Micallef, in 2002, relating to a property in Sliema. The case was only concluded in 2020.
The two parties had disagreed over interpretation of the rental agreement and the amount due.
The first court ruled against Micallef, ordering him to pay Agius close to €35,000, equivalent to the first year of lease which Micallef had terminated earlier than agreed. An appeal court upheld that judgment in 2020.
Micallef then applied for compensation, saying that as a result of delay for which he was not to blame, he had to pay Agius €50,315 in interest alone.
To make matters worse, the court had limited the use of his own funds throughout the entire period, severely...