Cap. 573 Art. 2Definitions.   Cap. 490.  Cap. 563.  Cap. 563.     Cap. 12.  Cap. 16.       Cap. 363.    Cap. 16.  Cap. 69.  Cap. 199.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires: "Administrative Review Tribunal" means the Administrative

Review Tribunal established by article 5(1) of the Administrative Justice Act;

"agricultural" or "rural land" means land which is mainly leased or rented for the growing of agricultural crops, flowers, fruit-trees or vines and for related agricultural purposes, including the erection of glasshouses, the assembly of cloches or cold frames but does not include grazing grounds. It also includes farmhouses, buildings intended mainly for the keeping of store cattle or other domestic animals, and other structures of a kindred nature. However, these words do not include the domestic garden of a house or building or any other land within the precincts of a house or building nor a building site nor waste land;

"Arbitration Board" means the Land Arbitration Board as established in this Act; "authority" or "competent authority" means the Lands Authority established in accordance with article 5 of the Lands Authority Act or any person or any other entity that has been entrusted by contract or by law to administer Government land; "Board of Governors" means the Board of Governors of the Lands Authority established by article 10 of the Lands Authority Act; "conflict of interest" means a person who is considered to have a conflict of allegiance between the empowerment given to him to act and affinity that derives from parentage or a relationship referred to in article 734(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Code of Organization and

Civil Procedure and also from any professional or commercial interest, whether direct or indirect, in the relative date, with a person from whom one shall benefit or shall be affected by a decision held by the said person;

"commercial premises" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to it in the Civil Code;

"Declaration" means the Declaration issued by the Governor, Governor General of Malta or by the President of Malta before the entry into force of this Act or from the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Lands Authority in accordance with article 38;

"disposal" means the transfer or grant of any land under any title whatsoever, including, but without prejudice to the generality of the aforesaid:

(a) any lease or encroachment or other right of use as well as any grant of any real or personal right in or over any land;

(b) a renewal of any real or personal right in or over any land, whether tacit or expressed on new terms and conditions (provided that an increase in rent, ground rent or compensation for use shall not be deemed to be a new condition), but including a renewal of any real or personal right in or over any land originally made in pursuance of a special resolution of the House, even when made on the same terms and conditions;

(c) any charge of any condition included in the disposal of any land other than land disposed of by the Housing

Authority or by the Government for housing purposes, as long as the land remains subject to the condition that it be used for housing purposes, or land disposed of by a local council established under the Local

Government Act: Provided that the transfer of any land acquired under any title in accordance with this Act, where such land is no longer required for a public purpose, to the person from whom such land was so acquired, or to his successors in title, shall not constitute a disposal for the purposes of this Act where the transfer back is made for the consideration (including damages) paid by the Government on the acquisition together with interests at eight from the date per centum per annum of the payment up to the date of the transfer back to such persons where such land was acquired by the Government under absolute ownership, and where the land is held by Government on public tenure or possession and use, the transfer back is made subject only to the cessation of the annual payment of the relative recognition rent or acquisition rent as the case may be;

"dwelling house" means a building, a part of a building separately let, or a room separately let, which is let mainly as a dwelling or place of residence, and includes land occupied with the premises under the tenancy, but does not include a building, part of a building or room when let with agricultural land;

"land" includes any property which is immovable either by its nature or by reason of the object to which it refers to it in articles 308, 309,

310 and 311 of the Civil Code and it also includes any land which has been formed following land reclamation and also the sea and the sea bed. Any reference to ‘government land’, or ‘government building’ includes reference to land and building administered by the Government or Government agency;

"lease" includes the right of occupation, possession or use of any land by any title whatsoever;

"lessee" is the person on whom the lease is registered with the competent authority or who occupies that land with a title of lease;

"member of the family" means a lineal ascendant, a lineal descendant, widow or widower, the husband, partner, or cohabitant of the daughter, the wife, partner or cohabitant of the son, the widow or widower of the descendants while not remarried;

"Minister" means the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary under whose portfolio the Land’s Authority is included;

"owner" also means the lessee of that land;

"premises" means any tenement;

"public purpose" means any purpose connected with exclusive government use or general public use, or connected with or ancillary to the public interest or utility (whether the land is for use by the Government or otherwise) or with or to town-planning or reconstruction or the generation of employment, the furtherance of tourism, the promotion of culture, the preservation of the national or historic identity, or the economic well being of the State or any purpose connected with the defence of Malta or connected with or ancillary to naval, military, or air operations; and includes any other purpose specified as public by any enactment; and for the purposes of this definition, where the purpose for the exercise of any right under this Act is connected with the utilization of any land or any right in connection or in relation therewith for any purpose connected with the supply, storage or distribution of fuels or other sources of energy, or in connection with the provision of any utility or municipal services or infrastructural project shall be deemed to be connected with or ancillary to the public interest or utility;

"Rent Regulation Board" means the Board established in accordance with the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation);

"Rural Leases Control Board" means the Board established in accordance with the Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act.