The five-article law was voted down by the leftist Tagammu Party, and Nasserist MP Diaaeddin Dawoud decided to abstain from voting. A big number of young MPs who are members of the Political Parties Coordination Committee joined the Tagammu Party in rejecting the law.

Parliament speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly said the law will be up for a final vote in a later session.

“I also want to indicate that once finally passed and ratified, this law will not have a retroactive effect,” said Gebaly. “It will go into effect only from the date of its promulgation.”

A report prepared by the parliament’s Housing Committee said the draft law aims to create a more balanced relationship between landlords and tenants of non-residential units.

"The draft law will give tenants of non-residential units a five-year grace period from the date of its promulgation to adjust themselves, after which they will be forced to pay five times the value of the current rents or be evicted from units," said the report, indicating that “the value of rents will also be annually increased by 15 percent and over the following four years.”

The report said the new law was drafted in line with a 2018 ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court stating that old rents of non-residential units should be liberalised to reflect economic and social changes.

The report argued that the draft law represents an initial step towards striking a balance between the rights of landlords and tenants in a way that will not harm the economic stability of Egyptian society.

The report said the committee members had changed the government's title of the draft law to, ‘A Law on the Procedures and Dates of Evicting Units Rented to Entities for Non-Residential Purposes in Light of the Economic Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic.’

"This title correctly reflects the meaning of the bill and clarifies the exact reasons for promulgating it," said the report.

However, the draft law faced objections from MPs with leftist and Nasserist leanings. Atef Meghawry, the leftist Tagammu Party's parliamentary spokesperson, said the government-drafted bill does not discriminate between profitable and non-profitable entities that rent properties.

"The bill will do a lot of harm to non-profitable entities such as civil society organisations, charitable societies, political parties, consumer societies and trade unions which rent non-residential properties to offer free-of-charge services to local communities," Meghawry said.

He indicated that "there are 54,000 NGOs which are currently renting units for non-residential purposes and that these will be negatively affected when the rents are liberalised,” adding “although the state declared that the year 2022 would be the year of civil society, we are surprised that this law will come to do a lot of harm to civil society organisations.”

Diaaeddin Dawoud, a Nasserist MP, said the new law will open "the gates of hell" because it will hard hit poor classes which currently suffer from hard living conditions.

"We, as MPs, should observe the rights of these classes, and let me tell the prime minister, who spoke about bread subsidies yesterday, please remember what happened in 1977 [bread riots] and that the job of all state authorities should be to protect these classes," said Dawoud, adding that "we are all in one boat and please do not open the gates of hell by drafting such laws which only lead to rising prices and push inflation to higher levels."

MP Hani Abaza, a member of the liberal Wafd Party, also said he has reservations over the new law.

"I fear that this law comes while economic conditions and inflation rates are not so favourable to the majority of citizens and institutions," said Abaza.

MP Talaat Abdel-Qawi, chairman of the General Union of NGOs, warned that as many as 54,000 NGOs operating in Egypt could face eviction from properties they rent to offer services to local communities.

"The government says the law aims to contain the negative impact of the coronavirus, and in this respect let me say that NGOs were the first to support the government in achieving this objective in terms of offering 30 percent of medical services to coronavirus patients," said Abdel-Qawi, who is a member of the parliamentary majority party Mostaqbal Watan.

"I propose that NGOs pay three, and not five, times the value of the current rent and that they pay just 10 percent – instead of 15 percent – in annual rent hikes," said Abdel-Qawi.

Abdel-Qawi's proposal, however, was rejected by the government and most MPs. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Alaaeddin Fouad said "the law aims to achieve equality and if we gave NGOs an exception this will be against equality."

"We see that all entities pay five times the value of the current rents after a five-year transitional period, and that the rents of leased properties be increased by 15 every year," said Fouad.

A proposal submitted by MP Alaa Essam asking for exempting political parties and trade unions leasing non-residential properties was also rejected.

MP Essmat Zayed said the amended law achieves social justice, especially as it gives entities a transitional period of five years to adjust their conditions, after which rents of non-residential properties will be liberalised.

"I think a five-year transitional period is enough for all to adjust themselves and without causing a sudden increase in prices and rents," said Zayed.