Recent amendments made on Article 35 bis of Law No 114/1946 will no longer recognise the validity of signatures in registering properties.
The amendments to the law regulate the registration of newly sold properties at notary public offices.
The only recognition of sales operations will be through official registration at notary offices. As a result, the buyer will not be able to contract on any utilities or services for their property if it is not registered.
The amendments were approved by the House of Representatives and ratified by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The law will be officially enforced on 4 March 2021, given that the amendments were issued on 5 September 2020. The law was approved after six months of its publication.
The new amendment will officially cancel what is known as primary contracts, and therefore notary offices will be the only body that will be recognised before government companies and state institutions.
Wael Al-Sharif, a member of the Contracting and Real Estate Investment Division at the Giza Chamber of Commerce, said that registering sold property in notary public offices would take into account some guarantees.
These include the need to ensure that property does not include any building violation, and that reconciliation has been made in case the property was in violation of the construction law.
Al-Sharif noted that registration of property contracts will be another guarantee of owners’ rights. It will also prevent cases of the manipulation and bullying that have taken place during the past periods.
He added that the advantages of the new amendments are the registration of real estate on the appropriate registry. The most important of these is the possibility of obtaining utilities, ensuring the person’s ownership of a housing unit, and protecting it from abuse, besides raising the unit’s value when evaluated by real estate experts.
