No to Demolition, No to Neglect: Administration Committee Continues Study of Old Residential Rent Law Proposal

The Administration and Justice Committee held a session chaired by MP Georges Adwan, attended by rapporteur MP Georges Atallah, and MPs Bilal Abdullah, Hussein Al Haj Hassan, Georges Akeis, Imad Al Hout, Ghazi Zaiter, Marwan Hamadeh, Osama Saad, Ali Khreiss, Ali Hassan Khalil, Ashraf Baydoun, Ghada Ayoub, Qoblan Qoblan, Melhem Khalaf, Alain Aoun, Bilal Hashimi, Firas Hamdan, Mohamed Khawaja, Adnan Tripoli, and Jamil Sayed.

The committee began its session by continuing the study of the draft law concerning old residential rents and the draft law aimed at amending the rent law.

It also reviewed statistics received from the Ministry of Finance regarding the number of housing units still subject to Law 2/2017, as well as figures on lawsuits pending before courts and those for which judgments have been issued.

Committee members discussed the two proposals under consideration and affirmed "the rejection of enacting or amending provisions that demolish Law 2/2017, while stressing the necessity of finding solutions for situations deserving protection, whether from tenants or landlords."

Members unanimously agreed on "the necessity of establishing criteria to ensure protection for those who deserve it and maintaining a balance between the right to housing on one hand and the protection of ownership on the other."

As a result of the discussion and deliberation, MPs agreed on the criteria that should govern their work in approving a formula that ensures the required protections for those in need, to be ratified in the next session.

Due to time constraints, the session was adjourned, with the committee set to continue its work in the following session.