Works began by the end of November 2013. Within two months, Galea Pace had received a total of €70,000, the initial sum the claimant had borrowed from the bank.

Galea Pace, whose father is former PN mayor Galea Pace, insisted that the claimant hand over that sum quickly and on time to keep on paying workers on site.

He suggested that the claimant transfer the payments through Western Union, which raised serious flags.

However, Love was very happy with the works at first, writing in an affidavit that he would visit the site once a month, with Galea Pace even sending regular photos of the works.

Soon, Galea Pace began making requests for additional payments of extra works, including installing three-phase meters, garage rollers, steelwork, and a roof beam.

“Much later in hindsight, I realised that the pictures that he had sent me did not show any trace of the ‘ring beam’ and noted there was physically no room for the steelwork that was considered so important,” Love said in the affidavit.

Throughout 2014, Galea Pace worked on emergency works on the building, as a planning permit had not been approved. However, he had already started adding further works and inflating the contract price.

By May 2015, Galea Pace started asking Love to cover the expense of new building materials. Love was hesitant to hand over more money in a project already going far over budget. However, he was told by Galea Pace that the materials were crucial to finish the project.

At this point, Love was directed to start depositing the funds into an account belonging to Vivienne Galea Pace.

A month after transferring more funds, Galea Pace asked Love for a short loan to complete some works, explaining that the loss of his father had left him with a large inheritance tax bill.

“At the time, we had built what we felt was a kind of friendship with Kurt and did trust him,” Love said. 

A planning permit for the project was approved in October 2015. However, progress over the following months was practically nil. Love tried to contact Galea Pace throughout 2016, but working and living away from Malta made it challenging to keep a keen eye on the project.

The first formal legal letter concerning the issue was sent to Galea Pace in November 2016.

Issues persisted, and in February 2017, Galea Pace told Love that the costs for the excavation of the pool had jumped up by roughly  €13,000.

“I felt I had no power to contest this,” Love said. “I had increasing concerns over the spiralling cost and the lack of actual works carried out. I had always believed in Kurt, but this changed when the numerous dates of completion of certain parts had come and passed.”

On 20th March 2017, a contract of works was signed, with Galea Pace acknowledging that he had abandoned the works and failed to deliver on agreed completion dates. He blamed the delay on several issues, including claims that he was seriously ill, something he has told previous victims.

Soon after the contract was signed, Galea Pace made new requests for money, asking Love for thousand euro deposits, paid directly to Vivienne Galea Pace.

He also issued a new quote for certain works, once again citing the need for more building materials to finish the works. Love continued to fork out more money.

Most works done by Galea Pace were of a poor quality. On one occasion, he even severely damaged a neighbour’s wall, something which he never repaired.

“I started to notice a pattern in Kurt’s behaviour, being that every time, Kurt requested several payments, which were followed by some superficial or minimal works and then the interruption of works and loss of contact from Kurt. On a number of occasions, weeks would go by with nothing happening, and unfortunately, due to my work I was unable to continually monitor this,” Love said.

Payment issues did not only impact Love. In October 2017, Galea Pace even asked Love if the locks of the building could be changed as he had lost the keys. However, it later turned out that a subcontractor had not been paid and had left the project.

Galea Pace, Love said, would never actually finish a project, instead jumping from issue to issue without ever completing anything, asking for more funds throughout.

“As time went by, I really started to feel the lack of progress. In every contact, Kurt always had a story of problems, excuses or change of priorities,” he said.

Things eventually reached a crescendo in 2018, with the claimant pressing on a November 2018 completion date, almost four and a half years later than the promised deadline and five years since he met first met Galea Pace.

“When I entered my property beginning of November 2018, nothing had been done for months,” he said.

The contract with Galea Pace was terminated in December 2018, and proceedings were initiated. That day, Galea Pace and his workers descended upon the site and quickly began continuing works, including repairing the neighbour’s wall. However, the claimant called up Galea Pace and told him that he had enough of their relationship.

“What hurt most is that Kurt knew of my personal circumstances that this project was my whole life savings and that the completion was not just designed for me but for my son who has learning difficulties.”

“I am unable to afford the cost of renting while I am repaying the lending which I borrowed for the project whilst also trying to raise more funds to get the property liveable.”

To date, Love has paid around €26,000 in rent. He is now being forced into a shared apartment. 

The total value of the contract reached  €165,450, with Love paying €139,993. An architect has valued the full value of the works, minus the remedial works that were done, to around  €54,278.

Love is demanding that Galea Pace and his mother cover the  €85,000 difference. There is also a separate request for the court to pursue criminal charges related to fraud.

It remains to be seen whether the PN will take any action against Galea Pace or whether the police will pursue a case against the pair.

Below is Kurt Galea Pace’s Right of Reply, which was published on 6th September 2021:

1. First of all, it is a complete lie that I have taken nearly 140,000 euro to renovate an unconverted property from Mr Love. This lie seems to have been concocted in a sorry attempt to recoup money lost through Matthew Love’s irresponsible financial planning.
2. My business relationship with Mr Love started in
   2013 where, as my job requires, I was engaged to help Mr Love carry out remedial works on a dilapidated house of character in Kirkop.
   Throughout my engagement with Mr Love and as per ordinary and usual business practice, I always issued Mr Love with quotes before carrying out any work. I would only carry out the work as soon as he would have approved the quote in writing.
   That being said, every time he sent a payment, I would issue Mr Love with invoices and tax receipts.
3. Perhaps it is to note that Mr Love engaged an architect to oversee the works being carried out on his property. I had no issue working with the architect appointed by him.
4. Moreover, as indicated in the above captioned article, there are currently civil proceedings underway in which I am strongly denying the malicious allegations brought by Mr Love. I have willingly testified during these proceedings and shall gladly do all that is legally necessary to let the whole truth emerge.
5. It is frustrating to note that Mr Love consistently changed his mind about the works being carried out on his property. Naturally this led to many quotes being revised and meant that costs increased from initial projections. An example of which can be seen in the photos annexed to this document where Mr Love changed the designs for the pool at least three times (each change required an even larger excavation). The natural increase in costs seems not to have settled well with Mr Love and has led to him to make these false claims against me and my family in a petty attempt to tarnish my reputation and intimidate me into bowing down to his demands.
6. It is perhaps of note that in 2020, the police have already issued criminal charges against Mr Love for taking the law into his own hands and unlawfully interfered with my property.
7. That being said, I shall continue to perform my duties to the best of my ability, as I have always been for the past 30 years working as a turnkey contractor.

If you have fallen victim to Kurt Galea Pace or any other cowboy contractors in Malta please send an email to [email protected].

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