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Conflict Incident Report
Longtime tenants protest 2014 rent law in Beirut
BEIRUT: Longtime tenants affected by the newly amended 2014 rent law demonstrated against the legislation in Beirut on Tuesday, blocking a main square in the capital city, state media reported.
Tenants with contracts signed prior to 1993 blocked the bustling Sassine Square in Ashrafieh before dispersing Tuesday evening, the National News Agency said.
In 2014, Parliament endorsed a rent law that enacted gradual increases in the value of the residential lease contracts prior to 1992.
The law stipulated that all rent contracts signed before 1993 would be terminated by 2023.
MPs further amended it on Jan. 19, in a move that would allow tenants with low incomes to benefit from a subsidy fund.
A number of tenants pay pre-Civil War rates, which are drastically lower than market value.
The law affects approximately 200,000 apartments – mostly in Beirut – which are protected from unregulated rent hikes.
The tenants rallied in January to protest modifications to the rent law introduced by Parliament.