CAIRO: The escalation of a dispute between a Cairo residential compound owner and its residents could lead to the evacuation of 500 apartments. The owner of Beit El Ezz compound, located at Ibn Al Hakam Square in Al Zaytoun, claims that the residents hadn't paid all the money they owe for their apartments, but the residents say they did. According to Ahmed Zaki, an employee at Al Zaytoun's local district office, the dispute is over the sum of money the residents "claim to have paid the compound owner to build a parking area. The residents say the owner had used the money to pay back his bank loans. Zaki told Daily News Egypt that the local district office first of the problem through state television's popular show El Beit Beitak, when one of the residents - a lady named Soheir - complained to the live show on Saturday. She said the dispute has escalated to the point where the compound owner had threatened to evacuate the buildings. Soheir had attributed the problem to a transaction between the compound's first owner and the current one. She said the first owner sold the compound to pay off his debts and the current owner is demanding the residents pay more money, claiming they haven't finished paying off their installments. She claims that he also wants them to pay again for their parking spot. "We are can all be thrown out on the streets if the owner wins the case he filed against us, Soheir said. Soheir, who asked Al-Beit Beitak talk show to involve the Minister of Justice in resolving the dispute, had been living in the compound for three years. On the other hand, Zaki said that the Al Zaytoun's local district office "cannot do anything regarding this issue. "The problem is an internal matter that can only be solved between the two parties. No authority other than the courts has the right to interfere in the issue, he said. Zaki added that the district offices in Egypt are only in charge of licenses or construction-related issues but have nothing to do with "personal conflicts between owners and residents.
