NNA - President Joseph Aoun on Thursday filed two appeals with the Constitutional Council challenging the current law on non-residential rents and a separate law amending provisions related to private school teachers and school budget management.

According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the appeals aim “to clarify certain provisions” in the two laws “to facilitate their implementation for the benefit of all concerned.”

Aoun also sent a letter to the Cabinet requesting the activation of the old residential rents law in order to “preserve the rights of all parties involved.”

Separately on Thursday, 12 MPs filed an appeal with the Constitutional Council against the law liberalizing commercial rents. Armenian Orthodox MP Hagop Terzian, of the Tashnag party, formally submitted the appeal on their behalf.

The controversial law, which went into effect April 3, lifts restrictions on commercial leases signed before 1992. Its passage triggered protests by tenants’ rights groups in Saida, Tripoli and Beirut.

For landlords, especially those holding older contracts, the law is seen as a long-awaited reform. Rents for some commercial properties had remained frozen for decades under the 1963 rent control law, even as the Lebanese pound lost significant value during the 1980s Civil War and again after the 2019 economic collapse. Some tenants have reportedly paid the equivalent of just $5 per month under the outdated system.

In a statement carried by NNA, an association representing property owners under the old rental regime implicitly criticized Aoun’s appeal and rejected the “perpetuation” of rental contracts they say violate private property rights.

Meanwhile, two laws supporting the private school teachers’ pension fund — passed by Parliament in December 2023 but initially frozen by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati — were published in the Official Gazette on April 3 at the request of current Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. --- L'Orient Today

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