The Egyptian Parliament is preparing to legislate a new law on old rent contracts in an effort to resolving the old rent crisis.
Legislators have placed great importance to resolving the crisis and finding better ways to coordinate the relationship between the property owner and the tenant – done by taking into account the commitment to the rights of all without putting pressure on one party at the expense of the other.
The first steps of the House of Representatives were to conduct a census of the apartments in Egypt that fall under the umbrella of old rent apartments.
Proposals raised
The Housing Committee began listening to varying points of view to receive proposals on the articles of the old rent law, most of which are based on regulating the relationship between the landlord and the tenant and stipulating that should be a “transitional period” to end the rental relationship – alongside a periodic increase in the legal rent paid by the tenant to the landlord annually.
The proposals regarding the articles of the old rent law included setting a transitional period ranging from five to 10 years and increasing the rental value during the transitional period annually by 15 percent of the then prevailing rental value according to the old rent law.
In addition, there are proposals stating that there should be a fund to support tenants in buying new units to avoid evicting them and to provide new permanent housing.
Some of the proposals for solving the dilemma of closed apartments stipulate the issuance of legislation by returning them directly to the owner, an amendment submitted by Representative Ihab Mansour, indicating that with the issuance of this law, a large percentage of the old rent crisis will be resolved.
The deputy of the Egyptian Democratic Party relied on the fact that the tenant does not benefit from the closed apartments as they have a better alternative, and therefore it has become necessary for the owner to benefit from the unit that is originally theirs, noting that the draft law represents a priority at the present stage to end this crisis.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
