B’Kara Works Temporarily Halted After Couple Takes Collapse Fears To Court
A court has provisionally accepted an urgent request by a Fleur-de-Lys couple to stop construction works next door amid fears that their home will collapse.
Ramona and Matthew Montebello this morning filed a warrant of prohibitory injunction that was temporarily accepted by Judge Joanne Vella Cuschieri until a hearing can be held next week.
The couple’s home in Birkirkara has already been damaged by the demolition of the site next door where some 28 garages are planned to be built three storeys below ground level.
According to the latest method statement provided by the developer (after it was revised three times on the couple’s insistence), there was a risk of “unwillingly entering” into the Montebello’s property, as well as “unplanned collapse”.
The couple also commissioned a geological study which found that the site has the highest possible georisk level. Rock failure is “very likely” to occur should rock excavation proceed. This would result in “catastrophic damage”, the report concluded.
The couple had been petitioning the authorities for weeks to stop the works until their safety can be guaranteed. However, it was only after they went public with their story on Lovin Malta that the Building and Construction Agency insisted that no excavation would take place until a fresh geotechnical survey is carried out.
Since demolition works persisted to clear the site of the rubble for a geotechnical survey, the couple felt their only option to guarantee their safety was to go to court.
Lawyers Darren Carabott and Tanya Sciberras Camilleri signed the couple’s warrant of prohibitory injunction.
The request was filed against Demar Properties, namely David Psaila who is both the architect and the developer.
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