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Wednesday, 23 February 2022

A busy day in the House gives us future flow securitization, new eviction rules

Say hello to future flow securitization: The House of Representatives’ general assembly gave its final approval yesterday to amendments to the Capital Markets Act that will introduce future flow securitization, according to Al Borsa. Cabinet approved the amendments necessary to create the capital-raising tool in November after the Financial Regulatory Authority issued last May regulations that paved the way.

What on earth is future flow securitization, you ask? Future flow securitization differs from traditional securitization in that it allows the securitization of payments that aren’t on the company’s balance sheet yet, giving companies access to liquidity without needing a big portfolio of accounts receivable (think: home and car financing, leasing portfolios and the like). Future income, whether from club memberships, phone bills, utility payments, tuition fees or rent, is packaged into securities and offered to investors in order to raise capital. This gives public- and private-sector companies such as utilities providers, healthcare companies, telecom players, and education outfits new ways to create liquidity.

Landlords will be able to evict organizations from non-residential properties soon(-ish), after the House gave its final approval to amendments to the “old rent” law, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The amendments, which come into effect in five years, will raise the rent for organizations, government agencies, public and private companies, embassies, and other entities leasing properties under the old rent system. Rent will be increased fivefold for the first year after the law is passed, with an annual 15% increase until the amendments come into effect. Once the five-year period passes, the law lays out a judicial path for landlords to evict these tenants and set new rent rates according to market prices. The House Housing Committee signed off on the bill last month.

Amendments to the Real Estate Registry Act also earned final sign-off from the House general assembly yesterday, Al Borsa reports. The amendments are designed to streamline the real estate registration process by significantly reducing the number of documents needed, digitizing parts of the procedures, and putting a time ceiling on the entire process. The House had given its first nod to the amendments earlier this month, after they received sign-off from the House Legislative Committee in January.

Not included in the final text of the law: A clause setting out the exact administrative fees to be levied on filing registration forms. A number of MPs in the House Legislative Committee had originally requested that the bill — which does not specify that registration forms are filed with tax offices without charge — include the exact fee, rather than leave that to be determined in the executive regulations to the law. The committee’s final report on the bill indicated that the Justice Ministry will have the authority to determine the fee, which is not required in the text of the law, according to Masrawy.

Next steps: The three bills will now make their way to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to be signed into law. Executive regulations will follow.

OTHER LEGISLATION NEWS- The House rejected amendments to the Income Tax Act that would have seen property owners pay a lump sum tax ranging from EGP 1.5k – 4k when they register real estate assets that were sold before the original law came into effect in 2013, Ahram Online reports. Properties sold after that date would have continued being subject to the current 2.5% tax paid by sellers on properties’ disposition or quick sale value. MPs reportedly said the new bill would discourage people from registering their properties and inflict economic hardship on low-income families. The Planning and Budget Committee had greenlit the amendments earlier this month.

What now? The amendments will be sent back to the Planning and Budget Committee for redrafting, according to Ahram Online.

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