Striking a balance

“This law is a step aimed at achieving justice, and after 30 years without a law this step has become necessary and inevitable,” said MP Robert Ghanem, chair of the Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee, according to the minutes of April’s rent law meeting. The committee had met to amend the law after the Constitutional Council ruled three of its articles invalid. Yet after decades of deliberation and several years drafting and amending the law, Lebanon seems no closer to balancing the tenant–landlord equation — the amended law requires a vote by Parliament and the passing of the budget to make it effective. The long march towards Ghanem’s so called justice is now on hold indefinitely. [pullquote]The long march towards Ghanem’s so called justice is now on hold indefinitely[/pullquote] After stumbling through years of debate, Parliament, in April 2014, ratified a new rent law. Many legislators opposed the bill, arguing