Owners of residences that have an existing minor irregularity and which is not creating a disturbance to neighbours, can apply to be granted a partial compliance, following the introduction of regulations to this effect published yesterday.

The cases stipulated in the LN were largely proposed by the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Development Planning. They seek to address the social realities of a number of families who ended up with a property that could not be modified or supplied with water and electricity meters due to the departures from permits.

The legal notice gives a concession for minor encroachments which go beyond the existing official building alignment. These developments include pilasters, ramps and steps which do not protrude more than 30 centimetres beyond the official alignment onto the pavement as long as the pavement width of 1.2 metres is retained. This concession does not prohibit any public authority, including the Local Council to request that the illegality is removed.

A concession is also being given to a number of minor encroachments which exist within the footprint of a built property. This includes cases where the façade of a building encroaches within the first 1/3 of a front garden, and is not more than 25 centimetres within a villa/bungalow side garden, where the setback of permitted roof structure on a residence or a permitted garage in a side curtilage of villa/bungalow development is not less than 4 metres from the building elevations or alignment and for any external structure within in a front or side gardens whose height does not exceed 1.25 metres and is not larger than 10m2.

For circumstances where an owner changed the use of a unit into a residential development or where a permitted residential unit was subdivided into two or more units, the legal notices permits the owner to apply for a concession to be granted. This so long that the creation of or change of use to residential unit is not situated at penthouse level, is not a change of use from a washroom or that the residential unit is at basement level with less than 50% of the facade under the public road level. This concession is only applicable if the present owner of the unit is not its original owner.

The legal notice also provides for those cases where internal alterations or modifications have been carried out to garage levels, so long that no entry or exit points are eliminated and the garage has more than one level of parking.

In agreement with the General Services Board (GSB), the concession which had been given last year to owners of dwellings for sanitary illegalities related to the size of internal yards or back yards, the floor to ceiling height and the size of a room built in a back yard has also been extended to cover commercial properties.

To benefit from these concessions, owners of dwellings will, through an architect, have to submit to MEPA a request, certifying that the structure to which the request relates, had existed prior to the 29th January 2013. The Architect will also need to submit a site plan, photographic evidence and a plan showing the difference in size from what had been approved by the Authority. A fee will be charged for the processing of these requests. Applicants and their architects will eventually be informed by the MEPA Enforcement Directorate whether their request has been accepted or not. When in the affirmative, an applicant may be granted a development permit within the same dwelling and may also submit a request for a Certificate that will enable the provision of water and electricity and this would be accepted if the sole infringements on site are those being covered by these provisions.

MEPA said that these concessions apply only to development that preceded the coming into force of these measures that is 29th January 2013, and should not be regarded as a precedent for approval of deviations from the requirements that may be presented in plans for the building of new premises submitted to MEPA. All concessions are granted saving third party rights.

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