Constitutional Council Rejects Looking into Vetoes Submitted against New Rent Law
The Constitutional Council decided on Saturday not to look into the two vetoes submitted against the new rent law, saying that the legal text published in the Official Gazette “was not put into effect.”
"The vetoed law is the one published in the Official Gazette on May 8. But at the time of its publication, the law did not adhere to the stipulations of the last section of the Constitution's Article 57, and hence, it was not put into effect," the Constitutional Council explained.
"Therefore, this reality prevents looking into the constitutionality of the law because it did not meet all required elements at the time of its publication.”
Accordingly, the Council will not look into former President Michel Suleiman's veto against this law in which he demanded canceling some of its articles, neither into some MPs' demand of annulling the entire draft.
On May 19, then President Suleiman asked the Constitutional Council to look into the constitutionality of the new rent law, and into whether it adheres to Article 19 of the Constitution.
He had rejected earlier in May signing the law, saying: “Any law that does not grant social justice will be unfair against a certain segment of the people.”
The parliament passed in April the controversial draft law regarding rents, which calls for an increase in rents over a six-year period until they reach 5 percent of their current value.
The old rent law pertains to rent contracts carried out before 1993.
Tenants of old rent law buildings have slammed the draft law, saying that it will force many of them to leave their houses because they would not be able to afford the new rent.
The owners of the buildings, on the other hand, say that the law paves the way for better ties with tenants.
Several demonstrations have been staged in protest against the law, with the General Labor Confederation calling on Suleiman to refer it back to the Joint Parliamentary Committees for further discussions.
S.D.B.
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