New amendments to the Real Estate Law have been ratified in Egypt
Under the efforts of the Egyptian government for regulating real estate issues, it has made great strides towards facilitating the procedures of the registration of the real property rights for property owners.
On the 6th of March 2022, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has ratified Law No. 9 of 2022 amending some provisions of Real Estate Registration Law No. 114 of 1946, the law has been published in the official gazette.
Many of Egypt’s properties are unregistered as most property owners refrain from registering their real property rights due to the prior obstacles in terms of cost, length of procedures, and the required provisions.
Hence, the new law is considered a great step, it aims to regulate the real property possession brought about by final contracts, customary contracts, or even adverse possession by facilitating the relevant procedures.
One of the most important features of the new law is that the law no longer requires proving the sequence of the real property ownership, the law clearly set out the required documents for the registration process as well.
According to the new amendments, property owners can apply online to register their real property rights, furthermore, the law provides a time frame for the procedures with the aim of avoiding the long-term procedures and making the registration process easier for property owners.
The law has opened the way for property owners to register their real property rights even if these rights are not supported by registered documents in the Notary Public.
The new law also set out a penalty of imprisonment for a term of no less than one year and a fine of up to 50,000 EGP for those who submit counterfeit documents to register their property rights.
The executive regulations of this law will be issued by the Minister of Justice after 30 days from the date of its publication in the official gazette.
The law shall be enforceable after 60 days as of the date of its publication.
