(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh on Saturday said the government might revisit the controversial Landlords and Tenants Law, citing articles that "served just the opposite of what the legislators wanted".
During a meeting with representatives of the commercial sector, attended by concerned Cabinet members, the premier gave the example of a provision in the law that leaves the evaluation of the new rent to landlords, who are allowed to raise the fee a level "equivalent to that of similar premises".
The premier said that such evaluation is prone to be subjective because some people are "greedy".
Under the law, tenants who do not accept the new rent can resort to court, which will decide whether the new rent is fair or otherwise.
As a result, courts will be flooded with these cases, and this will come at the expense of their core jobs, he told traders, who have been protesting against the law over the past few months.
"Perhaps it would have been better to have fixed rates in the law", he noted, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
While acknowledging that the executive authority should implement legislation that has been passed, he said, "We all make mistakes, but what is worse than making a mistake is to keep making it," he added.
In an ideal situation, there should be a relation between salaries, incomes and rents, but this is not the case in our country, said Khasawneh. In Jordan, rents have remained unchanged for decades which made it necessary to bring them up, but because the increase was large, it had a negative impact on tenants, he explained.
During his meeting with Jordanian tradesmen, in follow- up of a meeting last week, the premier indicated that the government is serious in its efforts to achieve economic reform, along with political reform.
Ministers present at the meeting expressed their commitment to resolving economic problems, including the question of kiosks, vendor stalls and push carts which are placed in front of commercial stores, thus harming their businesses.
They also underlined obstacles related to income tax and its assessment, the need to address the issue of the Raghadan tourist complex to revive the downtown area and strengthen the financial market.
