Joseph Portelli threatened with legal action over irregular Qala development

Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli and his associates are under pressure to ensure that the Planning Authority (PA) sanctions two large, illegal pools and a massive garden, built on ODZ land in Qala, or face legal action and potentially hundreds of thousands of euro in damages to buyers of apartments in his Hal-Wardija complex.

The Shift is informed that a few months ago, following the Court of Appeal’s decision to revoke Portelli’s permit in Qala, a couple from Attard filed a judicial protest warning Portelli’s company that it would proceed to launch Court action over fraud and negligence by Excel Investments.

The couple purchased a flat at the massive Hal-Wardija complex in 2023, on the condition that they would also have access to two large ODZ pools and the surrounding garden, measuring approximately 10,000 square metres.

However, shortly after, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti in the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the objectors, declaring the permit issued by the Planning Authority to be illegal, as the pools and garden could never have been developed on ODZ land under current laws.

Portelli and his associates, Mark Agius, known as Ta’ Dirjanu, and Daniel Refalo, knew they faced an appeal with the potential to lose their permit. However, as they usually do, they started and completed the development while the Court was still hearing the case.

Consequently, while they continued to sell their development on the premise that it included the ODZ pools and garden, they found themselves in a situation where the Court revoked their permit, declaring the development illegal.

Through their judicial protest, the Attard couple declared that what they bought and paid for was not what they actually received, as the common parts of the development, including the pools, were illegal and lacked a permit.

They insisted that if the sellers (Portelli’s company, Excel) do not regularise their development, they would have no alternative but to seek damages, accusing the developers of misleading, fraudulent, and other illegal actions.

So far, the development in Hal-Wardija is still not covered by a permit.

To try to sort out the situation and avoid massive financial damages and a raft of Court cases, Portelli and associates have filed a new application (PA05223/24) to sanction the illegal development and quash the decision of the highest Maltese Court.

The PA is still screening the new application.

Excel Investments, through its lawyer Ian Stafrace (a former CEO of the PA),  is working to distance itself from a potentially damaging situation.

Excel claimed, in a counter-protest, that the Attard couple did not buy their apartment directly from them but from a third party who had resold it, so the couple could not seek damages from the company.

Still, in an attempt to assure other property clients, who have also found themselves in the same situation as the Attard couple, Excel insisted that the company is seeking to reverse the Court’s judgment.

According to the Constitution, the Court of Appeal has the final word, and the PA is also bound by its decisions.

Portelli is one of many developers who ignore appeals against developments and continue with construction despite Court hearings.

A law to halt such developments during the appeal stage was promised by Prime Minister Robert Abela in 2024, but remains in the consultation stage. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has put forward Planning Bills that give the PA more power to override Court decisions.