5.  The applicants were born in 1968 and 1964 and reside in London and Florence, respectively. 6.  C.S. was the owner of a flat in Florence, which she had let to M.P. 7.  On 21 December 1989 the applicants became the owners of the flat. 8.  The applicants served formal notice on the tenant on 21 February 1990, informing him that they intended to terminate the lease when it expired on 30 June 1991, requiring him to vacate the premises by that date and giving him notice to appear before the Florence Magistrate's Court. 9.  In a decision of 18 June 1990, that court formally fixed the termination of the lease for 15 November 1993 and ruled that the premises would have to be vacated by 15 September 1994. The decision became enforceable on 17 July 1990. 10.  On 17 November 1994 one of the applicants, Mrs Ilaria Lo Tufo, signed a statutory declaration to the effect that she urgently needed to recover the use of the flat for her own accommodation. 11. On 25 May 1995 the applicants served notice on the tenant requiring him to vacate the premises. 12.  On 3 August 1995 they served notice on the tenant indicating that he would be evicted on 5 October 1995 by a bailiff. 13.  Between 5 October 1995 and 1 October 1998 a bailiff made sixteen attempts to evict the tenant but each attempt proved unsuccessful. The applicants never obtained police assistance for the enforcement of the eviction. 14.  On 21 July 1999, relying on section 6 of Law no. 431/98, the tenant applied to the District Court for a stay of execution of the eviction. The court stayed the execution until 23 September 1999. 15.  In October 2000 the tenant spontaneously vacated the premises and the applicants were able to recover the use of their flat.