Lebanon’s old rent crisis is not a battle between tenants and owners, as official narratives often suggest,  it’s the direct result of decades of failed housing policy. When the state withdrew from regulating the rental sector after 1992, pre-1992 tenancies were left frozen under rigid laws never revised despite recurring crises. The 2014 and 2017 rent laws suggested phased timelines paired with tenant protections, a support fund, and housing programs to ensure a “fair” transition from rent control to free market. None of it was ever implemented. And as crisis followed crisis,  the law today at the 9 year deadline benchmark became little more than a countdown to eviction for tens of thousands of families with no protections or alternatives in place.

Drawing on Public Works Studio’s research since 2014 and 130 documented cases handled through Housing Monitor Project’s hotline and legal support between March 2022 and March 2026,  covering 371 threatened housing units across Beirut, Tripoli, Tyre, and beyond,  this report shifts the conversation away from a tenant-vs-owner framing and toward a question of accountability. It also delves into the consequences of  what happens when the state treats housing as a private contractual matter rather than a social right.