The issue of the rental law is still the subject of ongoing controversy in Lebanon, and a conflict between landlords and tenants. Judicial developments have occurred that came in the interest of landlords, but tenants rejected them and will continue to move towards justice, especially since the majority of tenants are in their late years, retired and not working.
In light of the ongoing controversy over the application of the rental law and determining the fate of contracts subject to the exceptional regime, the head of the Landlords Syndicate, Patrick Rizkallah, confirmed to Al-Diyar that “the final decision issued by the Civil Court of Appeal in Matn constituted a pivotal judicial milestone, as it finally settled the issue of the expiry of the nine-year legal extension period,” and stressed that “this period expired as of February 28, 2026, after being calculated from the effective date of the amended law on February 28.” 2017”.
He pointed out that “the law gave a specific category of tenants, who are the beneficiaries of the fund, the right to benefit from an additional extension for a period of three years after the end of the nine years, but this right is not absolute or automatic, but rather is linked to the availability of mandatory legal conditions stipulated by the law, and the judicial decision reaffirmed them:
The first condition is the tenant’s commitment to submit applications to benefit from the fund within the specified legal deadlines, that is, within the two-month period following each year of the law’s entry into force, as of February 28, 2017. The law was not limited to one request, but rather obligated the beneficiaries to follow the procedures within the specified deadlines, in order to preserve their right to benefit from the provisions of the fund.
The second condition requires that the tenant must address the landlord in a written letter informing him of his desire to benefit from the additional extension for a period of three years, before the date of November 28, 2025, that is, three months before the end of the nine-year period. This procedure is not a formality, but rather one of the fundamental conditions to which the law links the tenant’s right to benefit from the exceptional extension.”
Rizkallah stressed that “the failure to meet either of these two conditions leads to the forfeiture of the tenant’s right to an additional extension, so that the lease contract becomes subject to the general provisions after the end of the legal extension, and it is no longer possible to invoke the provisions of the exceptional law to continue occupying the rental property.”
He believed that “the next stage must be based on respect for the law and judicial decisions, and on adopting dialogue and understanding between owners and tenants. After the effects of the old law have ended for a large number of contracts, it becomes natural to reach consensual agreements on new and fair rental allowances that take into account the current economic reality and the value of real estate, away from the low allowances that have been imposed by exceptional laws for many decades.”
As for trade unionist Castro Abdullah, he told Al-Diyar that “this law is the black displacement law, which leads to sectarian, regional and class separation, companies and brokers working for their personal interests, and this law has not been implemented by the state, especially with regard to the fund that the tenant resorts to, to enable himself to continue, and which remains empty of funds. The right holder did not benefit from it, and his work is still suspended and inactive. Also, the The nine-year period that passed included the period of financial collapse, the Corona pandemic, war, and others, which was an insufficient period.”
He says: “There are three draft laws related to housing that were submitted to the Parliament, and they are on the agenda and receive the approval of the tenants, but what we see today is that there are unfair judicial rulings that come in favor of the landlord, without regard to the suffering that the tenant is experiencing, especially if he is in the fall of work.”
He asked: “What is the tenant’s fault if he does not activate the fund he resorted to without benefiting from it?” He considered that “the solution to this problem is to do justice to this tenant, and to find a solution to the housing and housing crisis.”
He stressed that “the confrontation with the state and the owners continues through the law and the judiciary, as do the moves we take on a regular basis,” and pointed out that “freedom of contract means placing the tenant’s neck at the mercy of the landlord, and this is not permissible.”
