Offices and shops for sale in El Mourouj

Let us say it upfront: commercial premises for sale in El Mourouj are rare, and this page can stay empty for several weeks in a row. Commerce in the delegation is owner-occupier commerce. The pharmacist, the baker, the doctor in Mourouj 1 or Mourouj 3 bought their premises twenty years ago and are not selling them. What reaches the market is the ground floor of a new residence in Mourouj 5 or 6 that the developer has not yet placed, the inherited unit that a shopkeeper's children put up for sale, a warehouse in Bir Kassaa, or a café business offered with or without its walls.

The few listings published come from developers, private sellers and agencies, and the price is discussed with them. For a real choice, you often have to widen to all the offices and shops for sale in Ben Arous governorate, where Ben Arous town and Megrine line up more premises. And if the aim is to open quickly rather than to invest money, the offices and shops to rent in El Mourouj page is the right way in.

New street-level units in Mourouj 5 and 6: what developers sell

In the recent residences of Mourouj 5 and Mourouj 6, developers sell the commercial ground floors separately: units of 40 to 120 m² delivered as a shell, unfinished, with a street-facing shopfront, a good ceiling height and sometimes a mezzanine. The price per m² is markedly higher than that of the apartments in the same building, and the typical buyer is a local investor after a steady rent from a pharmacy, an agency or a service brand. The risk is well known: a cite still filling up, and a unit that sits empty for a year or two before finding its tenant.

Before buying a commercial unit in Mourouj 6 off plan or at the end of construction, read the co-ownership rules, which often exclude cafés, restaurants and noisy activities, and check the number of parking spaces attached to the unit. To place this commercial m² against the residential m² of the same residences, the apartments for sale in El Mourouj page gives the prices seen per cite.

Mourouj 1 and the market: the premises with footfall

In Mourouj 1, around Carrefour, the market and the metro stations, the 1980s units run from 20 to 40 m² and are almost all occupied. When one of them sells, it is most often with its tenant in place, and the tenant of commercial premises established for more than two years is protected by the law on commercial leases: you are then buying a rent, not premises to occupy yourself, and the price has to be reasoned in terms of yield.

Beware too of the confusion between walls and business. A listing for a business for sale in Mourouj, for a café, a salon or a grocery, generally sells the leasehold right, the equipment and the customer base, not ownership of the premises, whose rent remains payable to the landlord. Have what is being sold spelled out in black and white, and ask to see the current lease.

Bir Kassaa: warehouses, hangars and business premises

Bir Kassaa holds the other half of the market: warehouses and hangars of a few hundred m² near the wholesale market and in the industrial zone, bought by fruit and vegetable wholesalers, hauliers, craftsmen or online traders who need storage near Tunis. The price per m² there is far lower than at street level, and the value rests on heavy vehicle access, three-phase power supply, usable height and the condition of the slab. For anyone who would rather build their own warehouse, the rare land for sale in El Mourouj sometimes includes a business parcel on that side.

What to check before buying commercial premises

The land title in the seller's name first, with the designation of the unit; then the building permit, which must provide for commercial use of that ground floor, because many El Mourouj premises are former garages or living rooms converted without authorisation, and the municipality can remind the new owner of it. For a unit in a residence, the co-ownership rules and the statement of charges; for a let unit, the lease, the rent receipts and the tenant's move-in date.

On the money side, banks finance commercial premises less readily than housing and ask for a larger deposit; registration duties and the fees of the person drawing up the deed come on top of the price, as does the tax on built property, to be brought up to date if the seller is behind. An empty unit, finally, should be visited at two moments: a Friday lunchtime to measure the footfall, and a weekday evening to judge the security of the shutter and the street.