Did the 2026 deadline-suspension law extend old-rent deadlines?

Also asked as: “deadline suspension law 2026 old rent tenants” · “Does the suspension of deadlines law help old-rent tenants?” · “Did old-rent tenants get until 31 July 2026?” · “Suspension of legal deadlines law Lebanon rent”

What the suspension law does#

In July 2026 Parliament passed a law pausing legal and contractual deadlines from 1 March to 31 July 2026^[1,2,3]. An-Nahar reports that the pause covers legal, judicial, administrative, contractual and tax deadlines running in that period, which then resume from where they stopped. It also reports that deadlines on personal freedom and family status, and those left to a judge, are excluded^[2,3,5]. According to Public Works Studio, a tenant-advocacy group, the law expressly covers forfeiture deadlines in the rent laws.

Only An-Nahar gives the law's number, Law 46/2026^[2,3,5]. We did not read the text in the Official Gazette, so treat the number as reported, not confirmed. A lawyer can pull the published text for you.

Why the old-rent deadlines matter#

The old-rent regime covers residential leases signed before 23 July 1992^[6,9,10]. The courts counted the extension from 28 February 2017^[6,7,11]. Tenants who do not benefit from the Fund got nine years, ending 28 February 2026^[6,7,8]; Fund beneficiaries get twelve, ending 28 February 2029^[6,8,12]. More on the two groups in who gets 9 years and who gets 12.

To stay beyond nine years, the Metn appeals court held that a tenant had to meet two steps. The first is a Fund application within two months of the start of the ninth year. The second is a written request to the landlord, three months before the ninth year ended, for a new lease of up to three years^[7,13]. That written request is the Art. 16 request for the extra three years, due around 28 November 2025 for a 28 February 2026 end^[7,12]. The Fund has never operated and its committees were never formed^[6,12,14,15]. When the extension ends without these steps, the courts and the landlords' side say the lease falls under ordinary contract law^[2,6,7,16].

On most readings, the suspension matters only if one of these deadlines was still running on 1 March 2026, and the sides disagree on whether any was. One tenants' lawyer argues instead that there has been force majeure since October 2023, which would reopen the tenant's steps whatever was running on 1 March^[1,2,3,4].

Four readings of the same law#

These four positions are reported across Mahkama.net, This Is Lebanon, Public Works Studio and An-Nahar^[1,2,3,4].

According to Public Works Studio, the ninth year ended on Saturday 28 February 2026 and moved to Monday 2 March under Art. 419 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which falls inside the pause. On that reading, tenants had until 31 July 2026 to file a Fund application and send a reservation-of-rights letter. No court has endorsed this, and the group itself warns that delay may be read as an implied waiver^[1].

What the courts have done so far#

Earlier appeals rulings favoured tenants. In Beirut, ruling 318/2021 applied the extension to 2029 and suspended the Fund articles, and in Mount Lebanon a ruling of 28 April 2025 held that the deadlines could not be counted. The 2026 rulings we found went the other way and all ordered eviction: three single-judge rulings of 10 March 2026 and the Metn appeal of 10 June 2026^[6,11]. The Metn court held that the nine years ended on 28 February 2026 and that Art. 58 does not suspend the tenant's deadlines^[7,13].

As of October 2026 we found no ruling that applies the suspension law to an old-rent case either way. For where evictions stand now, see can the landlord evict an old-rent tenant now, and for the whole picture, old-rent tenants after February 2026. The end of the extension does not by itself remove a tenant: landlords have gone to court for eviction orders^[7,8,11].