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A historic ruling: El Hekayah’s Amr Adib described the Supreme Constitutional Court’s ruling that the fixed rent for residential properties stipulated in the so-called “old rent” law is unconstitutional as “historic” (watch, runtime: 32:37). Adib added that the decision and directive to lawmakers to amend the first two articles of the law before the legislative season comes to a close will significantly impact Egypt’s rental system, noting that it ends the stalemate that “no one has been able to approach for more than 40 years,”
The ball is now in the parliament’s court: The ruling puts the law “in parliament’s court,” according to Ala Masouleety’s Ahmed Moussa. The new law must create “balance between landlord and tenant,” Housing Committee head Mohamed Attia El Fayoumi told Moussa (watch, runtime: 9:50). Low-income groups unable to afford new rental rates will be prioritized in social housing programs, he added.
There are two ways forward from here: El Fayoumi outlined two potential approaches to resolve this long-standing issue, by either gradually amending the old law with different increase rates or drafting an entirely new law.
**We have more on the court’s decision and what the House will do going forwards in the news well above.
ALSO ON THE AIRWAVES- Qatar suspends Gaza mediation: Qatar’s announcement that it’s suspending its Gaza ceasefire mediation efforts caught the attention of Adib (watch, runtime: 17:40) and other hosts last night, which has made Egypt the sole mediator between Hamas and Israel. Adib emphasized that — contrary to media reports — the Qatari Foreign Ministry’s statement announcing the move did not say that the nation had ordered the closure of Hamas’ political office in Doha and eviction of its officials and questioned where Hamas leaders would go if they were expelled.
But Adib is still hopeful of an approaching ceasefire: Despite the breakdown in ceasefire negotiations, a ceasefire could still be possible in the medium term as “Tel Aviv wants to gift a ceasefire to Trump,” Adib added.
