Homes for rent in Tataouine Nord

For many teachers, doctors and tax officers, the first home they ever rented was in Tataouine. Every year the governorate takes in civil servants on their first posting, from Sfax, the Sahel or Tunis, who arrive at the end of August with a suitcase and an address to find before the new school year. Tataouine Nord, which covers the northern half of the main town, is where most of them look.

The online supply is small and almost always posted by private owners: a family letting the floor built for a son who has gone abroad, an owner letting his house until he comes back. On Houni, you call the advertiser directly. To widen the search, all the homes to rent across the Tataouine governorate also cover Tataouine Sud and the other delegations.

The house floor, the typical tenant's home

An apartment to rent in Tataouine is, nine times out of ten, a floor of a house. Outside staircase, separate entrance, two or three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a shower room: the typical S+2 to rent in Tataouine, two bedrooms plus a living room, sits above a family living on the ground floor. Rents stay modest compared with the coast, and the owner, living downstairs, sorts out small problems quickly.

Real apartment buildings are rare. There are a few in the centre, along the main roads, with flats let to managers passing through. The oil and service companies operating in the south of the governorate also house some of their staff in town, which tightens the supply of well finished homes. For a whole house, see the houses to rent in Tataouine Nord.

Late August, the hard month

The rental market in Tataouine runs on a tight calendar. Postings are published in summer, and everyone searches at the same time, between mid-August and mid-September. Decent homes go within days, often on the recommendation of a colleague already in post. If you have been posted here, call the school or office where you will work: the old hands know which owners let and which have a floor free.

Students at the town's higher institutes arrive at the same time and search in groups. The rest of the year, supply eases and owners are more willing to negotiate the rent or the advance. A cheap rental in Tataouine is more likely to turn up in winter, when someone has left mid-year.

Ennozha or Oued El Ghar

Ennozha, a newer and well laid out district, suits those who want a new home and quiet streets. Ettadhamen offers lower rents in a denser fabric. Oued El Ghar, a large sector with a mixed fabric, has a bit of everything, from the recent house floor to the old house. Telelt, further out, needs a car but offers more space and calm. For a single person without a car, it is better to stay near the centre and the shared taxis.

The commute matters most for those working at the regional hospital or in the central administrations. For a teacher posted to a rural school in the delegation, it is better to live on the side of the road taken every morning, and to plan on sharing lifts with colleagues: that is common practice here.

What to check in the south

The heat first: air conditioning in the bedrooms, orientation, insulation of the roof terrace if you rent the top floor. Then winter: nights are cold and a home without heating soon becomes hard going. Finally water: ask whether there is a tank on the roof and whether the meters are separate from the owner's.

Insist on a written lease, registered at the tax office, stating the term, the rent, the deposit and the advance, often two months. Do a dated inventory. If you expect to stay several years, compare with the property for sale in Tataouine Nord: at these prices, some end up buying.