Housing committee: Old-rent law to be thoroughly discussed at parliament

CAIRO, June 18 (MENA) - Head of the Parliament Housing Committee Alaa Wali said the law of old-rent for non-residential purposes that has been approved by the committee will be thoroughly discussed during the upcoming schedule of the parliament sessions.

In statements on Tuesday, Wali said the committee has taken into consideration the public interest, adding that the committee was keen on ending the long-standing problem and sounded the alarm against any fabricated information that might mislead the public.

The law is expected to regulate the relationship between owners and tenants and is going to be discussed publicly for the first time in the upcoming parliamentary sessions, he added.

The committee discussed the law in view of the rulings of the constitutional court which has been so "transparent" by amending the law's implementation on non-residential places, Wali noted.

The old-rent law is considered one of the several defects in the renting law in Egypt. Property owners complain about losing a lot of money as a result of being unable to change the rent value which was agreed and signed between owners and tenants many years ago and before issuing the new-renting laws. As real estate prices hiked severely, the property owners claim that the old rent is no longer compatible with the current value of the rented property.

According to the old-renting law, the old-rent contracts and the affiliated properties are inherited, and owners cannot change or terminate these contracts.