House postpones debate on Old Rent Law amendments a day due to missing data

The House of Representatives has postponed its debate on the long-awaited amendments to the Old Rent Law after MPs criticized the government for failing to provide crucial data during yesterday’s session. House Speaker Hanafi Gebali said the government appeared “unprepared” to present the legislation in its current form.

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Gebali calls out lack of readiness and consultation: Gebali told MPs that it was clear from discussions that the government lacked “important data and statistics” needed to finalize the legislation. “This is not the first time,” he added, noting that the government had previously submitted draft laws without adequate community dialogue or thorough study. “I will not dwell on this — I hope the message has reached the government,” he concluded.

Session adjourned, debate to continue today: The House decided to resume discussions on the draft amendments in today’s session. Gebali urged all MPs, regardless of party affiliation, as well as independent members to attend the session due to the bill’s significance.

Key missing data: How many tenants are there? During the session, Gebali highlighted that the data submitted by the government did not include the number of original tenants or first-generation inheritors residing in units subject to the Old Rent Law — figures he described as “extremely important.” He questioned whether the government, state statistics agency Capmas, and the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center were unable to provide this information.

Capmas responds with estimates: In response, Capmas head Khairat Barakat explained that the agency defines original tenants as those aged over 60 as of 2017, while tenants below that age are classified as the first generation. Barakat said that around 409k units out of a total 1.6 mn under the old rent law are home to original tenants.

REMEMBER- The government submitted the final draft of the bill to overhaul Egypt’s decades-old rent law to the House last month. The proposed amendments would see all residential old rent contracts scrapped seven years after the law comes into effect — unless landlords and tenants agree to terminate the contract earlier.

ALSO FROM THE HOUSE-

#1- Legalizing the status of squatters on state-owned land: The House also gave its finalnod to a bill setting out rules and procedures for handling any encroachments on state-owned lands.

REMEMBER-The cabinet approved the draft law back in October with the aim of encouraging investments in state-owned land — the recent wave of foreign investments we’ve seen in Ras El Hekma make it necessary to introduce the legislative amendments needed to ensure squatters legalize their stay on state-owned land so that it can attract investors.

#2- MPs gave their initial approval yesterday to draft amendments to the law regulating medical professions, expanding its scope to include applied health sciences technologists. The amendments guarantee them the same financial and professional benefits as other medical workers.