Has Egypt abolished the old rent regime?

Not immediately. Law No. 164 of 2025, which took effect on 5 August 2025 under its Article 10, ends residential contracts caught by it seven years from that date under Article 2, and Article 9 repeals Law No. 49 of 1977, Law No. 136 of 1981 and Law No. 6 of 1997 in their entirety only from the day after those seven years. Until then those laws continue to operate alongside the new statute.

How much did rents rise under Egypt's Law No. 164 of 2025?

Article 4 of Law No. 164 of 2025 sets the legal rent for residential premises caught by the law at twenty times the current legal rent in distinguished areas, with a minimum of 1,000 Egyptian pounds, and at ten times the current legal rent in middle and economic areas, with minimums of 400 and 250 Egyptian pounds respectively. Article 6 then adds a periodic annual increase of 15 per cent.

Does a residential lease in Egypt survive a sale of the property?

Article 604 of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948) provides that where ownership of the leased property passes to another person, voluntarily or by compulsion, the lease is not enforceable against that person unless it carries a fixed date preceding the disposition that transferred ownership. The same article allows the new owner to rely on the lease even where it is not enforceable against him.

Residential Lease Agreement in Egypt

Egypt runs two tenancy regimes side by side, and the older one was rewritten in 2025. Tenancies under the old rent laws, Law No. 49 of 1977 and Law No. 136 of 1981, are now governed by Law No. 164 of 2025, which ends residential contracts by force of law seven years from 5 August 2025, resets the legal rent by multiples with statutory floors and adds a 15 per cent annual increase. Leases outside that regime run on the Civil Code, where a fixed-term lease ends on expiry with no notice to quit and a lease without a fixed date is not enforceable against a buyer of the property.

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Governing law

New residential leases are governed by the lease chapter of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Articles 558 and following, following Law No. 4 of 1996 which applied the Civil Code to premises not previously let and to premises whose leases have ended. Tenancies still running 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 residential lease agreement has to contain in Egypt

A lease is a contract by which the lessor undertakes to enable the lessee to enjoy a specified thing for a specified period in return for a known rent.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 558 (Arabic text via WIPO Lex, consolidated to Law No. 55 of 1970)
Where a lease is made without agreeing a term, or for an unspecified term, it is treated as made for the period fixed for paying the rent, and it ends at the expiry of that period on one party's request provided that party served a notice to quit within the statutory periods.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 563
The tenant may assign the lease or sublet the whole or part of what he leased unless the agreement provides otherwise, so the permission has to be taken away expressly in the contract.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 593
For tenancies caught by Law No. 164 of 2025, residential contracts end on the expiry of seven years from the date the law took effect unless the parties agree to end them earlier.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Art. 2
For those tenancies the legal rent becomes twenty times the current legal rent in areas classified as distinguished, with a floor of 1,000 Egyptian pounds, and ten times the current legal rent in middle and economic areas, with floors of 400 and 250 Egyptian pounds respectively, and the resulting rent then rises by 15 per cent a year.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Arts. 4 and 6

Form, notarisation and registration

Law No. 4 of 1996 applied the provisions of the Civil Code to premises that had not previously been let and to premises whose leases had ended or would end, and has been in force since 31 January 1996.
Law No. 4 of 1996 on the application of the Civil Code to premises not previously let and premises whose leases have ended (record in the Manshurat legislative archive, which is not an official government portal)
Where the leased property changes hands, the lease is not enforceable against the new owner unless it bears a fixed date preceding the disposition that transferred ownership, although the new owner may choose to rely on the lease.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 604

What catches drafters out

The tenant of a dwelling, warehouse, shop or similar place must put into the leased premises furniture, goods, crops, livestock or tools of a value sufficient to secure two years' rent, or the whole rent where the lease is shorter, which is a statutory security mechanism separate from any contractual deposit.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 588
If the lease ends and the tenant stays in occupation with the landlord's knowledge and without objection, the lease is treated as renewed on its original terms but for an unspecified period, and the Article 563 notice-to-quit rules then apply.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 599
Law No. 164 of 2025 repeals Laws No. 49 of 1977, No. 136 of 1981 and No. 6 of 1997 in their entirety only from the day after seven years from the date it took effect, so those statutes still govern parts of the relationship in the meantime.
Law No. 164 of 2025, Art. 9