The Cairo governorate’s classification committees assigned to survey rented apartments within the capital to decide their fair rental value has concluded that 18 per cent of properties can be classified as upper, 31 per cent as middle, 37 per cent as economic, and 14 per cent as falling outside the scope of the old rent law.
Survey work in other governorates nationwide is slated to conclude on 5 February.
Rent Law 164/2025 was ratified by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi six months ago and is meant to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants of residential and commercial units.
Even before passing into law, the bill stirred a wave of controversy, especially among owners and tenants.
The classification committees, formed in each governorate as mandated by the law, have adopted a set of standards in surveying units in order to calculate their rental value, including geographical location, the quality and condition of the buildings, the materials used, the average area of the units, and the utilities in each district, such as water, electricity, gas, and telephone services.
The committees had originally been expected to complete their work within three months, but the deadline has been extended to ensure accurate data and fair assessments. Until the final classification is published, many tenants will continue to pay LE250 as a monthly rent.
A unit’s rent is determined according to the classification of the area under the law. In high-end areas, rents are set at 20 times their current value, to a minimum of LE1,000, while rents in middle and economic areas are set at 10 times the current value, to a minimum of LE400 and LE250, respectively.
The law mandated that all rents be set at LE250 a month starting in September 2025 until the classification committees had concluded their surveys on which new rents could be determined.
Meanwhile, the rents of commercial units (like shops or clinics) are to increase fivefold. The rents of both residential and commercial units are subject to an annual 15 per cent increase over the seven-year period following the enforcement of the law.
While the law itself provoked controversy, this has also been the case for the classification process, with some saying it has not been conducted on sound standards, such as Michel Halim, legal adviser and representative of tenants of residential and commercial units in the National Dialogue at the House of Representatives.
Halim cited the example of the Manial district in Cairo, designated a high-end area, arguing that a 60-square-metre flat there should not be assessed in the same way as a 150-square-metre unit and that the age of the buildings had not been taken into account.
A property built in the 1950s should not be equated with one constructed in the 1990s, he said.
Lawyer Sameh Samir described the survey results as “puzzling”, pointing in particular to the Minya governorate in Upper Egypt, where cases had been brought to him by landlords and tenants seeking legal advice.
Samir said that the classification committees had dealt with Minya as though it contained only upper and middle areas, with no districts classified as economic housing.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), Minya ranks among the country’s poorest governorates, with poverty levels standing at 55 per cent.
Mohamed Hisham, an urban planner at an international engineering consultancy, said that several factors determine the classification of residential units, including population density per feddan (4,200 square metres), the number of storeys in a building, the number of flats on each floor, household size, proximity to main and high streets and recreational zones, and the availability of services.
Other factors include the ratio between the size of the building and the plot it is built on and the price per square metre of land.
He added that a residential area may be divided into different, albeit homogeneous, categories.
Nader Sobhi Suleiman, a tenant in Beni Sweif in Upper Egypt and a representative of a group of renters, said that the state had rushed to issue the law, allowing only a few months for the classification process, which had not been properly explained.
This has fuelled disputes between landlords and tenants, he said.
He added that some landlords had exploited the lack of information surrounding the law and rushed to tell their tenants they must pay 20 times the rent set for their residential category.
While the old law governed rental contracts signed before 31 January 1996, those signed afterwards are subject to the provisions of the Civil Code (Law 4/1996), commonly known as the “new rent law”.
These contracts are consensual and temporary and end upon the expiration of their specified term without automatic renewal.
On the issue of alternative housing, provisions for which are outlined under the law, Suleiman said that many people were hesitant to apply for this because they would be required to vacate their current unit before submitting an application without any guarantees in return.
The Housing Ministry has announced that applications remain open via its Digital Egypt platform and through post offices but that they will close on 14 April.
Halim pointed to the social considerations surrounding alternative housing, saying that many tenants are elderly people who have long settled in their neighbourhoods close to their doctors and relatives, and for whom relocation to the outskirts of cities or to new urban communities would be unsuitable.
“There is no objection to raising rents, but the opposition centres on eviction after seven years,” as indicated under the law, Suleiman stated.
Samir said that the law is fair in terms of rent increases, an approach accepted by the vast majority of tenants, and also fair in its provisions on vacating empty flats. However, it is unjust and unconstitutional with regard to the seven-year limit, as this contradicts contractual freedom, particularly for the original tenant, he added.
Lawyers have demanded an explanatory memorandum to the law containing its detailed interpretation, noting that so far the legislation has resulted only in rent increases, with no other changes being made, he noted.
“Regarding vacant residential units,” he said, “clarification is needed on how enforcement will proceed and when the one-year period stipulated by the law for leaving a vacant flat is deemed to begin.”
Samir also called for “clearer explanations of eviction cases, more accurate classification by committees, and more information on alternative housing and the criteria for its application, especially for priority groups such as pensioners, widows, and persons with disabilities.”
MP Nashwa Al-Sherif has submitted an inquiry to the government following the Cairo governorate’s decision to reclassify a number of residential areas as upper, middle, and economic.
Her request seeks to draw attention to what she describes as the imposition of rigid rental figures without regard to the actual conditions of each district or building and the level of services or the nature of the residents, particularly in governorates with distinctive circumstances such as Alexandria.
“We are faced with decisions that have been drafted on paper but imposed on people in fact at a time when pensions range from LE2,000 to LE6,000 and the salaries of thousands of employees start at LE6,000, while rents are raised without controls or gradual phasing, threatening people’s psychological and social stability,” Al-Sherif said.
She added that the problem lay not in the classification itself, but in the absence of transparent regulations, the lack of genuine social or economic impact studies, and the failure to involve local authorities and civil society in decisions affecting the lives of millions of families.
Halim noted that some members of the new House of Representatives have begun moves to demand amendments to certain provisions of the law, foremost among them abolishing the mandatory eviction clause after seven years.
The legal community is anticipating an important court session on 21 February when the Supreme Constitutional Court will review appeals filed against certain articles of the law, particularly the seven-year limit and the rent increases.
Official estimates indicate that the old rent law affected around three million housing units, accommodating more than six million tenants, particularly in major cities such as Cairo, Alexandria, and Giza.
The changes made to the law have important potential economic and social repercussions, most notably rising rents and increased burdens on middle- and low-income groups.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 5 February, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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