Landlords hail rent draft

Draft law raising 'old rent' to current market prices soon in Parliament

The association of the owners of ‘old-rent’ buildings called on Parliament to adopt the new rent law before March 2012. The association welcomed the draft law which raises the rental fees of contracts made under the so-called ‘old rent’ law.

In August 2011, the Parliament extended the term of the old rent law till the end of March 2012. Old rent contracts are governed by the 1992 Rent Act which kept the prices unchanged for tenants who had signed their leases before 1975 (the outbreak of the Civil War).

The new draft law entails raising the old rental fees to the current market prices gradually over a period of five to six years. It also entitles tenants to financial compensation if asked to move out by the landlord before this period.

The landlords called for immediately increasing old rents to the current market prices. They also called for cancelling the suggested compensation for tenants.

The Committee for the Rights of Tenants utterly rejected the draft law, threatening to take escalatory steps if the law was adopted.

The president of the parliamentary committee for Administration and Justice, MP Robert Ghanem, said last week (on December 28) that the committee is working with the Public Corporation for Housing (PCH) and the Central Bank in order to develop a special loan program for providing tenants with long-term loans at the end of the five-year period so that they would be able to put up with the increased rental fees.

Ghanem said that the draft law will be submitted to the Parliament right after the committee completes its deliberations but didn’t specify a date.

He also said that the committee has almost finalized the leasing (rent-to-own) law which will be implemented through the PCH.