Egypt’s Home of Representatives handed on Wednesday, 2 July, long-anticipated amendments to the Outdated Lease Regulation, formally approving new laws that may steadily terminate long-standing fixed-rent contracts.
Underneath the newly accepted legislation, residential tenants will likely be granted a seven-year transitional interval, whereas non-residential tenants, comparable to these renting for business use, could have 5 years earlier than contracts are terminated.
After this era, all new rental agreements will likely be topic to Egypt’s Civil Code, which permits landlords and tenants to freely agree on phrases.
The legislation introduces a gradual 15 % annual enhance in hire throughout the transitional interval. As well as, present rental values will likely be adjusted upwards primarily based on location. In prime areas, rents could enhance as much as 20 instances the present quantity, with a minimal set at EGP 1,000 (USD 20) per 30 days.
Center-income zones will see no less than a tenfold enhance, with a minimal of EGP 400 (USD 8), whereas items in financial areas will rise to no less than EGP 250 (USD 5). For non-residential properties rented by people, the hire will likely be multiplied by 5.
The transfer follows a ruling by Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Courtroom in November 2024, which deemed fastened rents unconstitutional and known as for legislative intervention to deal with the long-standing imbalance between landlords and tenants.
Yesterday, Minister of Native Improvement Manal Awad affirmed that land had been allotted throughout a number of governorates for brand spanking new housing developments geared toward supporting affected households. She emphasised that the federal government wouldn’t abandon residents at the moment dwelling below outdated lease contracts.
In accordance to Egypt’s official statistics company CAPMAS, roughly 409,000 households fall below the class of authentic tenants, lots of whom are over the age of 60. Cairo accounts for the biggest share of those households, adopted by Alexandria, Giza, and Dakahlia.
Officers keep that the brand new laws goals to resolve a decades-old disaster whereas hanging a stability between defending tenants and restoring rights to property house owners.
The choice has confronted backlash, with MP Abdelmoneim Emam warning that many aged tenants could possibly be left with nowhere to go as soon as the seven-year transitional interval ends.
