A promise of sale agreement for Qawra’s Mavina Holiday Complex has been extended to December 2024 as the Planning Authority (PA) has not yet issued the necessary planning authorisations.
The agreement was first announced in January 2023 when CF Developers Ltd stated that it agreed on a deal with Mavina Holiday Complex Ltd, a subsidiary of Halmann Vella Group plc, to purchase and acquire the property for €7 million. The complex is located on Triq il-Fliegu, Qawra, limits of St Paul’s Bay.
CF Developers Ltd is a subsidiary of CF Estates Ltd, a real estate company in which Joseph Portelli is majority shareholder.
The promise of sale agreement includes the purchase of its inclusive subsoil and airspace. The property shall also be sold free and unencumbered, apart from it being subject, in part, to an annual, perpetual and revisable groundrent of five per cent.
While the agreement was initially valid and effective up to 31st August 2024, in its latest announcement, Halmann Vella Group announced that the parties have now extended it to 20th December 2024.
This comes after the planning authorisations from the PA, a condition that was deemed necessary when the promise of sale agreement was first signed, have not yet been issued.
At the time of the initial announcement, the property was leased out to third-party tenants, yet it was highlighted that once the final deed of sale is conducted, it will no longer form part of Halmann Vella Group’s portfolio.
As a result, as soon as the tenant vacates the property, no further rental income will be generated to the company. Proceeds from the disposal of the property are expected to go towards reducing Halmann Vella Group and its subsidiaries’ debt.
The property was previously rented out to a third-party hotelier which does not have any connection with Halmann Vella Group or CF Developers Ltd. However, the hotel company has since gone bust.
While the complex’s website is still up and running, allowing customers to place reservations, reviews on the property’s online listings from after the agreement was signed indicated that it no longer exists.
“I made a reservation in January 2023 for a two-week stay in May 2023. Upon arrival I found the hotel closed. The email and telephone number was out of order. I went to the Police to report fraud, yet received no assistance. Money gone,” one frustrated commentor said in January 2024.
“The place no longer exists. They cancelled our reservation a long time ago and never returned the funds,” another person commented in August 2023.
