The postponement, which marks the second since Monday, came after requests from MPs for accurate data from the government on the number of people affected by the proposed law.
Parliament Speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly openly rebuked the government for arriving at the House without sufficient data or readiness.
“The government has come to Parliament unprepared and lacking essential information,” El-Gebaly said during the general session.
“This is not the first time the government presents draft laws without having conducted the necessary societal dialogue or studied the proposals thoroughly.”
He stressed that the inadequacy became evident through the discussions that took place on the draft law during the session, adding, “Important statistics and data are missing.”
El-Gebaly concluded his remarks by saying: “I won’t go into more detail. I trust the message has been received by the government.”
He then announced the suspension of Tuesday’s session and scheduled the continuation of the discussion for the following day, calling on all MPs from various political affiliations, including independents, to attend Wednesday’s session due to its importance.
Crucial Data Absence
A key point of contention during Tuesday’s session was the lack of clear data, particularly concerning the number of original tenants and their heirs.
Speaker El-Gebaly posed a direct question to the government on this matter, pressing for precise figures that could shape the legislative direction.
In response, Khairat Barakat, Head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), explained that the agency identifies original tenants as those who were over 60 years of age in 2017.
Those below that age are classified as part of the "first generation" of heirs— a group permitted to inherit rental contracts under the superseded law.
Barakat shared that, according to the latest data, there are approximately 409,276 families across Egypt where the head of the household is over 60 years old. This number comes from a broader pool of about 1.6 million families living in units rented under the old system.
While these numbers added valuable insight, El-Gebaly pointed out a crucial gap. “Despite the detailed data, there are no specific numbers of original tenants and the first generation,” he said.
He questioned whether the government, CAPMAS, and the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) faced challenges in compiling and submitting such data.
During the session, El-Gebaly also asked Minister of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, Mahmoud Fawzy, if there had been prior consultations or coordination meetings with party representatives and independent MPs regarding the available data.
The minister responded that a group of party leaders and independents had been invited to attend meetings with relevant ministers to discuss the data.
El-Gebaly acknowledged the effort but emphasised that the information remained insufficient for proceeding with the debate.
Decades-old Debate
The old rent law is among Egypt’s most socially and legally complex issues, affecting millions of tenants and landlords across generations.
Thousands of apartments, worth millions, are still rented for very little in Egypt because of rent freezes under the old law, leaving landlords unable to reclaim their property for years.
While landlords have frequently sought to reclaim their properties through complaints, tenants, many of whom are pensioners, have voiced concerns about being unable to move out and buy new homes due to high costs.
On 17 June, the Housing Committee gave preliminary approval to a draft bill amending the law governing old rental contracts that are characterised by fixed, lifetime rents and inherited tenancy rights—policies seen by many as outdated and economically distorting.
The amendments to the old rental law set a seven-year termination period for residential leases and five for non-residential ones.
Rents will rise up to 20 times current rates based on area classification, with annual 15 percent increases.
New rules also regulate classification, rent payments, and eviction conditions.
The ongoing attempts to reform the law have sparked fierce public debate, with some hailing the efforts as necessary for fairness, while others fear displacement and social unrest.
As Parliament prepares to reconvene, the eyes of millions of landlords and tenants remain fixed on the outcome—an outcome that could reshape housing policy in Egypt for decades to come.
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