Does Egypt's Law No. 164 of 2025 apply to commercial premises leased by a company?

Article 1 of Law No. 164 of 2025 defines its scope as places let for housing purposes and places let to natural persons for a purpose other than housing under Law No. 49 of 1977 and Law No. 136 of 1981. Premises let to a legal person for a non-residential purpose therefore fall outside the wording of that article.

How long do old commercial tenancies in Egypt have left?

Article 2 of Law No. 164 of 2025 ends leases of places let to natural persons for a purpose other than housing on the expiry of five years from the date the law took effect, which under Article 10 is the day after its publication in the Official Gazette on 4 August 2025. The parties may agree to end the contract earlier.

What notice ends an open-ended commercial lease in Egypt?

Article 563(b) of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948) covers houses, shops, offices, stores, factories, warehouses and similar premises. Where the period fixed for paying the rent is four months or more, the notice to quit must be served two months before that period ends; where the period is shorter, the notice must be served before its last half begins.

Commercial Lease Agreement in Egypt

Commercial premises in Egypt sit in the same two-regime structure as housing, but with a shorter clock and a narrower scope. Law No. 164 of 2025 covers premises let to natural persons for a purpose other than housing, ends those contracts five years from 5 August 2025 and resets their legal rent at five times the current legal rent, plus 15 per cent a year. Ordinary commercial leases run on the Civil Code, where the default notice period for shops, offices and warehouses is two months, and where a lease is unenforceable against a purchaser of the building unless it carries a fixed date.

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Governing law

Commercial leasing is governed by the lease chapter of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Articles 558 and following. Premises let to natural persons for non-residential purposes under Laws No. 49 of 1977 and No. 136 of 1981 are governed by Law No. 164 of 2025.

Law No. 164 of 2025 on certain provisions concerning the premises rental laws, Art. 1 (Official Gazette No. 31 (bis), 4 August 2025, Arabic, published by the Ministry of Justice)

What a commercial lease agreement has to contain in Egypt

Law No. 164 of 2025 applies to places let for housing purposes and to places let to natural persons for a purpose other than housing under Law No. 49 of 1977 and Law No. 136 of 1981, so premises let to a company are outside its scope.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Art. 1
Leases of places let to natural persons for non-residential purposes under those laws end on the expiry of five years from the date Law No. 164 of 2025 took effect, unless the parties agree to end them earlier.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Art. 2
For those premises the legal rent becomes five times the current legal rent from the first monthly rent falling due after the law took effect, and then rises annually by 15 per cent.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Arts. 5 and 6
Under the Civil Code, where a lease of a house, shop, office, store, factory or warehouse has no fixed term and the rent period is four months or more, the notice to quit must be given two months before the end of that period, and where the period is shorter the notice must be given before its last half begins.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 563(b) (Arabic text via WIPO Lex, consolidated to Law No. 55 of 1970)
A person holding only a right of management may not grant a lease for more than three years without authorisation from the competent authority, and a longer lease is cut down to three years unless another provision applies.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 559

What catches drafters out

A prohibition on subletting carries with it a prohibition on assigning the lease and the reverse is also true, but where the lease concerns a property housing a factory or a shop and the tenant needs to sell that business, the court may keep the lease alive despite the prohibition if the buyer offers sufficient security and the landlord suffers no certain harm.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 594
A commercial lease is not enforceable against a person who acquires the property unless it bears a fixed date preceding the transfer, so a lease signed privately and never given a fixed date can be defeated by a sale.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 604
A fixed-term lease ends on the expiry of the term stated in the contract with no need for a notice to quit, so a clause requiring notice at expiry adds a step the Civil Code does not impose.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 598