Old rent is one of the most important files that occupy the minds of a large segment of citizens, as the amendments to the Rent Law contained in Law No. 10 of 2022 came with some procedures between the landlord and the tenant, and the dates for vacating places rented to legal persons for purposes other than housing, and the date for terminating the old rental contract, for legal persons.

We review with you in the following lines, how the old rental contract between the landlord and the tenant falls, according to Law No. 10 of 2022.

Article Two of Law No. 10 of 2022 stipulates that the old rental contract falls on obligating tenants to vacate units rented to legal persons by March 2027, i.e. five years after the start of the law's implementation.

This is in the event of non-eviction, as the landlord can go to the judge of temporary matters to obtain an eviction order, and the landlord has the right to demand immediate eviction in the event of failure to deliver the rented property on the specified date. Despite this, the Old Rent Law allows negotiations between the landlord and the tenant about the possibility of extending the rent for another period that guarantees the interests of both parties.

What are legal persons?

Legal persons are: governmental and private institutions, public institutions and bodies, rented properties for non-natural persons, including all governmental and ministerial bodies and headquarters, civil associations and parties, in addition to commercial and civil companies, associations and institutions, and every group of persons or funds that have a legal personality established by virtue of a provision in the law, endowments, private law offices, private doctors' clinics, and buildings rented by foreign embassies.

Increase in the value of old rent

Law No. 10 of 2022 stipulated an increase in the value of old rent for a legal person, starting next March, by 15% annually, making this the third increase since the law was implemented.

Supreme Constitutional Court Ruling

On November 9, 2024, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the first paragraph of Articles (1 and 2) of Law No. 136 of 1981 regarding some provisions related to renting places and regulating the relationship between landlord and tenant are unconstitutional, as they included the stability of the annual rent for places licensed to be established for residential purposes as of the date of the implementation of the provisions of this law.

The Constitutional Court stated in its reasoning that the stability of the rental value at a moment in time, a stability that does not change after decades have passed since the date on which it was determined, "constitutes an attack on the value of justice and a waste of the right to ownership."

The ruling shall be implemented from the day following the end of the current legislative session (the fifth parliamentary session of the current House of Representatives).

The court exercised its authority in this regard due to the legislator's need for a sufficient period of time to choose between alternatives to establish governing controls to determine the rent of residential places.