Shared houses in Ariana Ville

In the villas of El Menzah 6, Ennasr 1 or Ariana Supérieure, it is quite common for a room to come free: the children have left to study or work elsewhere, the house has become too big, and the owners would rather let the room to a female student or a young employee than leave it empty. House sharing in Ariana Ville therefore takes two main forms: a room with a family that lives on site, and a house or villa floor shared by several tenants of the same age.

Listings are posted by the owners themselves or by flatmates already living there, and you contact them directly. There is less on offer than for flats, and it varies from month to month. To widen your search, all the shared houses in the Ariana governorate also cover La Soukra and Raoued, where houses are bigger.

A room with a family: quiet and a homely setting

This is what many parents look for when a daughter or son starts university in Tunis. You rent a furnished room, sometimes with its own shower room, and either share the kitchen or have some meals with the family. The setting is reassuring, residential areas like El Menzah 6 and Ennasr 1 are quiet in the evening, and the rent generally includes water, electricity and internet.

In return, the house rules apply: curfews, limited visitors, discretion. Owners often say they are looking for a female student or a young working woman. A room like this commonly goes for 300 to 500 DT a month, depending on the area, its size and what is included.

A house or villa floor shared between flatmates

The other option is a whole house rented by three or four flatmates, or a villa floor with its own entrance that the owner lets room by room. You find this mostly in El Menzah 5, El Menzah 6, Ettaamir and Ariana Supérieure, in houses from the 1970s to the 1990s with spacious rooms. The big advantage over a flat in a block is outdoor space: a roof terrace, a yard or a patch of garden, much appreciated from May to October.

Older houses have their drawbacks too. In winter they are often cold and damp, and heating relies on electric or gas heaters that push up the bills. Ask how the previous tenants kept warm and how much their January STEG bills came to.

Who it suits and when

This kind of flatshare suits students at the El Manar campus and the colleges of northern Tunis, interns passing through and young health professionals starting out at the clinics and hospitals of Ariana. Listings multiply from late August to October, with the start of the university year, then again in February for the second semester. A shared house often comes free all at once in June, when a group of students finishes their studies: that is the moment for a new group to take over the lease.

Those who prefer a recent block with a lift and a caretaker tend to look at the shared flats in Ariana Ville, with more choice in Ennasr.

What to check before you unpack

When lodging with a family, ask for a simple written agreement stating the rent, what it covers, the deposit and the notice period on both sides. See the room in daylight, and check the window, the door lock and access to the bathroom. In a shared house, ask who signed the lease with the owner and how bills and the deposit are split.

Finally, think about the commute: from Ariana Supérieure or Ettaamir, without a car, you often need a bus or a taxi to reach the metro in central Ariana. For a whole house to yourself or for a family, the houses for rent in Ariana Ville take over.