Since its inception in 1992, internal residential developments have been a contentious issue, primarily because the planning authority consistently hesitated to approve them due to their lack of street frontage and limited amenities. However, the introduction of the Development and Design Guidelines marked a turning point. The planning authority began to relax its stance after […]

Three decades after the Development Planning Act first came into effect under Chapter 356 of the Laws of Malta, it has become known to all and sundry that obtaining planning permission for converting a garage into commercial use is a legal necessity. This, notwithstanding the fact that, in 2016, trade licenses were largely abolished (except […]

Recently, a court ruling shed light on ‘subsequent’ permissions one can obtain for a site with a regularization permit allowing developments that might not be granted under current policy requirements. It’s a standard condition in regularization permits that states: ‘If the development hereby approved is modified (i.e. altered, extended, removed, or redeveloped), the eventual development […]