Page 19 - Issue 71

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VOL.1 , ISSUE 71OL.1 , ISSUE 71 ELITE

A draft law submitted by the government regarding priority categories for care, a statement of the
certain provisions related to the laws governing the number of lands expected to be available for
rental of premises and restructuring the relationship constructing the buildings necessary to allocate
between landlords and tenants. alternative units and their locations).
A draft law submitted by the government amending Then, in its plenary session on July 1, 2025, the
certain provisions of Law No. 4 of 1996 regarding House of Representatives completed discussions on
the application of the provisions of the Civil Code to the two aforementioned draft laws. Dr. Manal
premises whose rental contracts have expired or are Awad, Minister of Local Development, announced
expiring without anyone having the right to remain that the House of Representatives would be given a
there. It was noted that the Supreme Constitutional detailed statement including the plots of land
Court has developed its rulings and principles in its available for construction in various governorates,
successive rulings from 1995 to 2002, intervening to in preparation for the establishment of new housing
limit this legal extension in stages, ultimately projects as part of the state’s efforts to provide
restricting it to the first generation only, with the decent housing for citizens. Dr. Manal Awad also
issuance of the Supreme Constitutional Court's latest explained that the lands included in the statement
ruling in Case No. 24 of the 20th Judicial vary between lands reclaimed in accordance with
Constitutional Year, in the session of 9/11/2025. Law No. 144 of 2017, lands subject to the
Despite the fact that the subject of the dispute was jurisdiction of the governorates, in addition to
related to the stability of the rental value, the court lands belonging to the Agricultural Reform
affirmed in its ruling the nature of exceptional rental Authority within urban areas, all of which are
laws and that they are temporary laws, no matter suitable for the construction of housing units. Dr.
how long their duration. It explicitly recognized the Khairat Ahmed Barakat, Head of the Central
legislator's right to intervene and regulate (the legal Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics,
extension of rental contracts) as well as (determining stated that the number of families that fit the
the rental value), considering them to be description of original tenants according to the old
characteristics of all exceptional laws that the rental system is only 409,276 families, who are over
legislator has the right to review at all times. Neither the age of 60 in 2017, out of a total of
of them is an absolute ruling without any restriction, approximately 1.6 million renting families
and both are not immune to legislative regulation. nationwide. Barakat explained that the distribution
The Supreme Constitutional Court has consistently of this category of tenants varies between The
emphasized in all rulings that old rental laws are governorates, where the largest percentage is
exceptional and must always be viewed as legislation concentrated, are: Cairo: 176,900 families,
of a temporary nature, no matter how long their Dakahlia: 11,300 families, Alexandria: 65,021
duration. families, and Giza: 57,843 families. Discussions
Discussions continued in the House of continued in the House of Representatives between
Representatives until Counselor Hanafi El-Gebali supporters and opponents, and the government
temporarily ended them (declaring that this level of provided the data and documents requested by the
discussions was sufficient, and that the discussion representatives in this regard.
would be completed in principle in the session of July
1, 2025, and that the government would provide the
data requested by the representatives, specifically a
statement of the number of first-generation tenants,
an approximate statement and not the 2017
statement, an approximate statement of the number
of original tenants and the measures that the
government would take with this category in light of
what Article 8 of the draft law included, that they are

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