The old rental file has returned to the forefront again, with increasing questions from tenants and landlords about the future of the rental relationship and the limits of rights between the two parties, especially in light of the judicial rulings and legislative amendments that are reshaping the features of this thorny file.
In a remarkable development, the Court of Cassation issued an important ruling in Appeal No. 2371 of Judicial Year 94, in which it ruled to overturn a ruling issued by the Tanta Court of Appeal, Benha Municipality, confirming a crucial legal principle related to the extension of old lease contracts after the death of the original tenant.
The ruling made it clear that the legal extension of the lease contract is not a permanent right or one that can be inherited across generations. Rather, it is limited to one time only, and ends with the death of the last person to whom the contract was legally extended, after which the right returns to the owner.
In its merits, the court stressed that the old rental laws were issued as exceptional legislation to protect tenants in specific social and economic circumstances, but at the same time it seeks to achieve a delicate balance between the owner’s right to recover his property and the right of the heirs to continue to benefit from the unit for a limited period.
The case papers revealed that the lease contract dated August 1, 1990 had already exhausted the right of legal extension, after one of the heirs continued to occupy the unit and practice the same activity there following the death of the original tenant. Thus, the court confirmed that the contract may not be transferred again to the heirs of this beneficiary after his death.
The ruling affirmed that the texts regulating old rent must be interpreted within the narrowest limits as an exception to the general rules, and that expanding their application without a clear legal basis is considered a violation of the law, which results in the end of the rental relationship and the obligation of the occupant of the unit to return it to the owner.
In the same context, the law specifies a number of cases that allow the landlord to terminate the old lease contract, whether in residential or non-residential units. These cases include the tenant leaving the unit for a long period without justification and closing it, or changing the activity assigned to it, or subletting it without a legal basis, or assigning it to others, in addition to causing serious damage to the property or delaying the payment of the rental value in accordance with legal controls.
However, the implementation of the eviction remains subject to the issuance of a final judicial ruling obligating the tenant or his heirs to hand over the unit, within the framework of maintaining the legal balance between the rights of the two parties.
At the level of legislation, the recent amendments stipulated that old residential lease contracts will expire after 7 years from September 2025, while lease contracts for legal persons will expire after 5 years from the same date, provided that the rental relationship after that is subject to the general rules regulating rents, allowing the conclusion of new contracts in accordance with market mechanisms.
