Shared houses in Medenine

In the governorate of Medenine, sharing a house is mostly about groups. A public works company sending a crew to a road project for several months, colleagues from a hotel in Midoun or Zarzis who would rather live together than in a hostel, three teachers posted to Medenine in the same year: they all want a house with enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own door, plus a courtyard or a terrace to unwind in the evening. The housing stock suits this well, since the south-east is made up of low houses and villa floors far more than apartment blocks.

The listings gathered here come from owners who accept several occupants in the same house, on the island as well as on the mainland. You contact the advertiser directly. Supply changes from week to week and closely follows the tourist calendar: it tightens on Djerba in spring and eases in autumn, while it stays steadier in Medenine town and Ben Guerdane.

The island or the mainland: two separate markets

On Djerba, house sharing revolves around tourism. Houmt Souk has most of the family houses let to groups of workers all year round, and the page on house shares in Houmt Souk covers that market neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Midoun, closer to the tourist zone, sees holiday villas that their owners hand over to hotel crews out of season, often furnished but designed for short stays. Ajim, on the ferry side, stays more modest: fishermen's houses and family-built homes, few of them for rent, but cheaper than in the rest of the island.

On the mainland, the rent for a whole house drops sharply. In Medenine Nord and Medenine Sud, a three or four bedroom house usually rents for less than a flat of similar size in Houmt Souk, and shared between four it comes to a modest sum per person. Zarzis sits in between: a coastal town with its hotel zone, its port and its businesses, where shared houses attract both seasonal staff and visiting technicians.

Who rents a house as a group, and where

Site crews and technicians tend to look in Medenine town, at the crossroads of the routes to Gabes, Djerba, Zarzis and Tataouine. A house on the Gabes road or in the newer outlying districts leaves room to park a company vehicle and set off early. The same logic applies in Ben Guerdane, where cross-border trade and services bring in employees who stay a few months without moving their families.

Hotel seasonal workers aim for Midoun and Zarzis, as close to the hotels as possible, or Houmt Souk when the employer runs a shuttle. Transferred civil servants sometimes share a house in Medenine until they find something better. Beni Khedache and Sidi Makhlouf, more rural, offer almost no house shares: a vacant house turns up now and then, rarely set up for several adults.

The lease, the meter and the cistern

An owner in the south is more willing to accept a group when one person answers for everything. Have the contract signed by the crew leader or by the company itself, stating the number of occupants, the planned duration and the deposit amount. If housemates change along the way, set out in writing how the deposit will be returned and to whom.

Utilities matter more than in a family rental. Many houses in the governorate have a majel, the underground cistern that collects rainwater, or a tank on the roof: ask about its capacity and how often a water truck has to be called in summer. Check the power rating of the electricity meter too, because several air conditioners in a house built for a single unit will soon trip the breaker. Finally, an unfurnished house calls for a real budget for beds and appliances: compare with a furnished house before you choose.

Other options in the governorate

A single person looking for a room with a family or a place in a shared flat will find a wider choice under flatsharing in Medenine. For a group that prefers a standard lease in one tenant's name, the houses for rent in the governorate of Medenine cover yearly and seasonal lets alike, from Djerba to Ben Guerdane. And to compare with Sfax, Gabes or the north of the country, house shares across Tunisia brings every region together.