MALTA TENANT SUPPORT
  • Home
  • About
  • Rental Contracts
  • A chronology
  • Blog

Judgement

30/7/2015

30 Comments

 
Picture
On the 10th July, 2015, after nearly 2 years of monthly court appearances, we received the court’s judgement on our case.

To put people in the picture, one day in August, 2013, I was at a check out with my son, with a mountain of shopping and a line of people behind me.  The cashier told me that my card wasn’t working.  I was very surprised by this because I knew that we had money in our bank account.  After a couple of tries, I phoned my bank, at which point I was told that there was a garnishee order on my bank account.  What is a garnishee order, I asked?

In a nutshell, our ex landlord had frozen our bank account as a precautionary measure.  Why?  Because we had found out that we were on the incorrect utility tariff and that we had already overpaid by 1 400 euro.  So, therefore, we refused to pay the arrears on the account of about 1 600 euro.  That would have made our overpayment equal to about 3 000 euro over a 35 month period.

More was to come.  My employer emailed me a few days later to tell me that my salary had also been garnisheed. 

I felt humiliated and broken.  I felt like I was a criminal.  I felt that the whole world thought that I was a criminal. 

Malta has an insane utility billing system where a tenant cannot have a direct relationship with Arms, (the sole, state owned utility billing company) WITHOUT the permission of the landlord.  This has created a loophole, where landlords, in effect, act like pimps for Arms:  they, knowingly or unknowingly, cause the tenant to be billed at the extortionate, domestic tariff, which is the tariff designed for EMPTY or occasionally used second homes; hence number of registered tenants = zero.

Arms is in receipt of money that it should not be in receipt of, and has been since 2009, ever since this billing system was introduced.  Everybody living in their primary residence should be on the more favourable residential tariff.  This behaviour of Arms is unconstitutional, and also breaks EU law in that it directly discriminates against all tenants, and indirectly discriminates against non Maltese EU nationals, who are even more unlikely to know about this insane billing system than Maltese nationals.

That day in August, 2013 was a momentous day.  That was the day when the bottom of my world fell out.  When I finally understood that being an assertive, law abiding, hardworking net contributor to society counts for nothing in Malta.  When I understood that the combined forces of law and government could actually come together to punish somebody whose only “crime” was to justifiably dispute an unfair bill.  What’s more, a bill which was not even in my name.  I was in shock, and I am still in shock, that something like this happened, and that there was nowhere for me to go to stop this outrageous behaviour. 

How I tried.  I wrote to ex Arms CEO James Davis and cc’d Konrad Mizzi, the Minister for Energy and Health, and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.  I wrote to the National Audit Office, to the Office of the Ombudsman… 

But no.  All I got was legalistic nonsense.  Legalistic nonsense that even a Franz Kafka couldn’t possibly have come up with.  I was told that the ‘consumer’ in the Electricity and Water Supply Regulations was the landlord, even if it was the tenant doing the consuming.  I was told that it doesn’t matter if the consumption on the account belied the “No. of residents = zero” description.  I was told that it didn’t matter if I had a paper trail showing that we had lived in that so called empty property for 35 months.  I was told that Arms does not do refunds.  I was told that it was totally my fault for not knowing or imagining that such an imaginative billing system existed.  

In effect, I was blamed for not being psychic; for not having paranormal abilities.  I was effectively told that my family of 5 lived invisibly in my ex landlord’s empty second home because my ex landlord hadn’t given us permission to be made visible to Arms.  I was told that ‘tenants do not exist for Arms.’

After 48 years of learning about myself, I know that I am an enterprising and resilient person.  However, all this has had a profound effect on me.  I feel irretrievably changed. 

The hardest thing has been the effect it has had on my family.  I have tried, I really have, to try and keep things normal.  But I can see that I have not been as successful as I would have liked. 

Moving countries is an expensive business.  So, all this happened when our financial situation was not as great as it could have been. It caused huge stress and worry.  The property that we were supposed to move into fell through so there were a good few weeks where we were practically homeless.  In 2013, the usually enjoyable build up to Christmas was traumatic:  we had to buy presents for our children on Christmas Eve.  My then eight year old son had to take 80 euro in cash to school on the first day of term because we had no cheque book facility.  We had to cancel a trip to Gozo to celebrate my husband’s birthday in September.

But more than the money, which was bad enough, was the sense of injustice, the sense of betrayal and the total indifference to the injustice of our situation by many who, I felt, should have taken responsibility.

Worst of all, I suspect that the behaviour difficulties of my children at school were caused by all this uncertainty and their sensing of my unhappiness, much as I tried to hide it.

Enough with the doom and gloom.  Lately, I have been feeling more upbeat, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Who knows?  All of this may give me more confidence in my ability to change a problem to a solution.  Because, notwithstanding my low periods, I have felt a steely determination that I WILL have justice for myself and for all tenants living in Malta. 

I have felt totally let down by the Maltese political class but I am determined that it will be held to account, if not by Maltese institutions, then by the EU.

So what does the judgement say? 

Basically the judgement ruled that my ex landlord and I had to share the 1 600 euro overcharge.  This is good news. 

Maybe it will make landlords understand that as much as “Ignorance is no excuse” applies to tenants, it also applies to landlords.  Maybe landlords will do some proper research into their letting business and make sure that they do everything possible to put their tenants on the correct tariff.  Maybe it will teach landlords not to take out precautionary garnishee orders on their tenants’ bank accounts and salaries. 

Because maybe more and more tenants will not cave in and just pay up, when they see that a court of law has ruled that the overcharge is to be shared between landlord and tenant.

But you know what?  The above is not enough for me.  Yes, it’s a step, and a step in the right direction.  However, at the end of the day, Arms will still be in receipt of 3 000 euro or so more than it should be from me and from my ex landlord. 

Yes, it will not be us that will have paid all of the overcharge and I suppose that is my reward for persevering when it would have been far, far easier to cave in.

I would suggest that you watch this space.  My petition to the EU, submitted nearly two years ago, was kept open by the EU Committee of Petitions on the 14th July, 2015 because the EU Commission is not satisfied with the response of the Maltese government.

So, the saga continues… 

Onwards and upwards.

PS  This is the link to the video streaming of the Committee of Petitions on the 14th July, 2015.  My petition, 1737/2013, is discussed at around 2:36 and ends at around 2:48.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20150714-1500-COMMITTEE-PETI

30 Comments
Erkki Tikkanen
30/7/2015 02:32:01 am

Your petition should start at 2:36 and end 2:48? The video discussion starts at 15:06, so where could I find your petition?

Reply
Johanna MacRae
30/7/2015 04:57:52 am

Hi Erkki Tikkanen

Unfortunately the link appears to not be working. When it worked you could fast forward 2 hours and 36 minutes into the video stream to be able to watch the discussion of my petition.

Will check and update link as soon as it becomes available.

Reply
Johanna MacRae
31/7/2015 07:48:50 am

Hi Erkki Tikkanen

The link was working as at 14:48 on the 31st July, 2015.

Reply
Arleen J Barlow
30/7/2015 06:20:49 am

Good for you. Keep on fighting. I had a terrible row with my new landlord over this subject even though I have lived here for over 25 years and knew my rights. I went straight to ARMS and changed my name on my bills as soon as I paid my €466 before she could put a stop on all the other tenants from doing it. Even Maltese nationals in my block are paying domestic rates. To pay me back, she sent a bill for the ramp which was done 4 years before when I came to the property. I am wheelchair bound and she volunteered to put it in when she wanted me to sign the contract.There are NO rules when it comes to renting in Malta.

Reply
Johanna MacRae
30/7/2015 10:22:40 am

That's terrible, Arleen. How inhuman. How did you manage to get the bills onto your name without her permission? Arms insists that it needs the permission of the landlord for that to happen.

Reply
Anthony
23/3/2016 05:11:05 am

I think the court was fair. You should have both check on which tariff you are. On the bill it clearly says number of residents = 0 . So both of you should have checked about that no excuses. I had the same issue with my first house which I had bought . I owned it for several years, till I fixed it I left it on number of residents 0, when I went to live in it I forgot to change it to numbers of residents 2. I ended up paying a higher tariff for a year. My mistake hands down, it was my responsibility. So I paid for it. Same with you. I learned the lesson and so should you.

Reply
Johanna MacRae
10/4/2016 10:20:08 am

And pray tell: how was I supposed to check if I had no access to the account because I was not allowed to be the account holder by the landlord?

The EU Commission is unhappy with tenants being dependent on landlords for access to the correct tariff. An infringement is imminent.

You, as a homeowner, were automatically an account holder.

Tenants 'do not exist' for Arms.

It's also interesting that you think it acceptable for Arms, the sole, state owned utility billing company, to overcharge people who do not understand how to access the correct tariff, even though you have suffered the consequences of this.

Most civilized countries do not try to entrap consumers into paying more. People shouldn't have to learn a lesson.

So, your attitude is quite mind boggling. I suspect that you are either a landlord or an employee of Arms, possibly quite high up. :)



Reply
Antonio
22/9/2016 06:01:07 pm

Hello, it was a very interesting read, thank you. I am having the same problem (my landlord requested me to pay 2400 Euro for 6 months of water). I will refuse to pay and was wondering what you would recommend me to do? What's the next step? I will close my BOV account asap and move my money elsewhere (he is a powerful member of the BOV board and a nasty man). Has the legal situation changed since then? What is the produce to send a petition to the EU? Many thanks in advance.

Reply
bitcoin nasıl alınır link
2/8/2022 12:24:02 am

https://www.kriptoseyir.com/category/bitcoin-nasil-alinir/

Reply
Unlimited Elements Nulled link
5/9/2022 07:32:52 pm

Really informative article, I had the opportunity to learn a lot, thank you. https://freecodezilla.net/unlimited-elements-for-elementor-pro-nulled/

Reply
mobil ödeme bozdurma link
12/9/2022 11:10:28 am

Really informative article, I had the opportunity to learn a lot, thank you. https://odemebozdurma.com/

Reply
site kurma link
30/9/2022 12:29:54 pm

It's great to have this type of content. Good luck with your spirit. Thank you. https://bit.ly/site-kurma

Reply
dortdivan escort link
5/10/2022 08:23:43 am

I think this post is useful for people. It has been very useful for me. Looking forward to the next one, thank you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/bolu-escort/dortdivan-escort/

Reply
tokat escort link
5/10/2022 08:13:03 pm

It was a post that I found very successful. Good luck to you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/tokat-escort/

Reply
kaman escort link
6/10/2022 03:21:32 am

I follow your posts closely. I can find it thanks to your reliable share. Thank you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/kirsehir-escort/kaman-escort/

Reply
aslanapa escort link
7/10/2022 08:44:24 am

I think the content is at a successful level. It adds enough information. Thank you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/kutahya-escort/aslanapa-escort/

Reply
edremit escort link
7/10/2022 11:31:56 pm

Thank you for your sharing. I must say that I am successful in your content. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/van-escort/edremit-escort/

Reply
kartepe escort link
8/10/2022 12:54:30 pm

Thoughtful and real content is shared. Thank you for these shares. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/kocaeli-escort/kartepe-escort/

Reply
korsan taksi link
12/11/2022 10:11:55 am

Tıkla: https://taksikenti.com/

Reply
evde iş imkanı link
22/11/2022 06:35:47 am

Sitemizi ziyaret et ve evden is imkanina bak: https://sites.google.com/view/evden-ek-is/

Reply
betinfo link
22/11/2022 08:41:28 pm

It was a successful post.These types of posts are very helpful.

Reply
mrbahis link
9/12/2022 01:08:04 am

This is nice work. Seeing good works on good days gives one peace of mind.

Reply
vbet link
9/12/2022 02:19:27 pm

Congratulations, it's a nice post. I'm always waiting for such nice posts in the future.

Reply
takipçi satın al link
10/12/2022 05:50:06 am

kaliteli düşmeyen takipçi satın al: https://takipcialdim.com/

Reply
tiktok takipçi satın al link
10/12/2022 08:47:03 am

Garantili Tiktok takipçi satın al: https://takipcialdim.com/tiktok-takipci-satin-al/

Reply
instagram beğeni satın al link
10/12/2022 08:47:23 am

İnstagram beğeni takipçi satın al: https://takipcialdim.com/instagram-begeni-satin-al/

Reply
sportsbet link
10/12/2022 05:03:51 pm

I follow your work closely. Congratulations for this beautiful content.

Reply
takipçi satın al link
16/12/2022 03:37:11 am

uygun fiyatlardan takipçi Hemen Göz At: https://takipcim.com.tr/

Reply
sms onay link
16/12/2022 03:37:49 am

Tıkla: https://www.smsonay.com/

Reply
casino siteleri link
28/12/2022 01:34:07 pm

hemen göz at casino oyna: http://haikuboy.com

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Johanna MacRae

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.