Collective Action

A number of members of Lebanese tenant committees protested in front of the Justice Ministry Thursday morning, ahead of a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail.Tenants have previously rallied in protest against the new rent law, which went into effect in March 2017 after the Constitutional Council rejected a legal challenge. At the time, protesters demanded the law be withdrawn, and called on the Lebanon’s executive and legislative branches to extend the old rent law and to work on a national housing policy. Tenants have argued that the law, which allows landlords to incrementally increase rents for longtime tenants, would lead to evictions.The law has only been partly implemented due to the government’s inability to set up a fund to provide compensation to evicted tenants.