Egypt mulls annulling archaic rent legislation

If the current market value of buildings is the benchmark, Al Houssini Salama should be a millionaire in his own right. The 68-year-old pensioner is the owner of a four-floor building in Cairo’s upmarket quarter of Heliopolis, which he inherited from his father. But this wealth is no cause for him to feel happy.

“Can you believe that the total monthly rent of this apartment block does not reach 100 [Egyptian] pounds [Dh20.80]?” he said.

“All the spacious apartments there are rented under an old lease law, which does not set a limit to the lease period or allow a rise in the rent.” Salama is one of tens of thousands of landlords who are pushing for annulling the lease law, which dates back to the socialist era of president Jamal Abdul Nasser.

Nearly 2.5 million apartments housing about 20 million people are estimated to be covered by this law.

Under former president Hosni Mubarak another law was issued in 1996 liberalising the rent value of new buildings and setting a limit to occupancy. The 1996 law did not replace the old one for fear of causing social unrest. However, several lawmakers in the present legislature say they have presented draft bills to address it soon.

AGENCY