Ligi Ippjanar

01. 11
2025

The no liability rule in permit revocations

Article 80 of the Development Planning Act empowers the Planning Authority to revoke or modify a development permission where specific grounds exist and after a basic procedure: the Executive Chairperson prepares recommendations; the Planning Board hears the parties; and a decision follows. The statute narrows the revocation gateway by definition and materiality. A permit may […]
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29. 10
2025

Civil Courts do not decide planning applications

The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Godwin Gatt u Amanda Gatt v Awtorità tal-Ippjanar (App. Ċiv. 946/2021/1, 20 October 2025) re-affirms the rule-of-law settlement that separates administration, merits tribunals, and courts. The Court states the allocation crisply: “M’hemm l-ebda dubju li deċiżjonijiet dwar ippjanar huma fdati f’idejn l-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar bid-dritt ta’ appell quddiem it-Tribunal… […]
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26. 10
2025

Finality and Second-Stage Appeals in Maltese Planning Law

The Xagħra judgment (Court of Appeal, Inferior Jurisdiction, 15 October 2025, App. 9/2025) clarifies an increasingly common scenario: after a first appeal decision, may third parties later file a fresh appeal to re-argue earlier issues when the Authority re-issues a second permit on the same site? The answer is no. What res judicata seals at […]
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23. 10
2025

When the Law Forgets the Street

There are few areas of Maltese civil law where the distance between logic and law has become so embarrassingly visible as in the interpretation of Article 426 of the Civil Code. The provision is simple enough: when the storeys of a building belong to different owners, each may open balconies or windows in the external […]
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17. 10
2025

Vested Rights in Planning Permits

Some argue that a planning permit is only a conditional authorisation — a momentary administrative favour that may dissolve ‘as it may be deemed appropriate’. Others – myself included – hold that once a permit is validly issued, it crystallises into a lawful possession that the State cannot retract except through lawful means. In the […]
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16. 10
2025

Townsquare judgment reflects Bill 144’s reasoning

There is a claim in public debate that Bill No. 144 of 2025 “kills” the courts’ power in planning appeals. Yet, I always insisted that such claim is a total untruth in the sense that the Bill clarifies—rather than curtails—the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction)’s supervisory function over the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal. Indeed, […]
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