Apartments for rent in Lac de Tunis

At Les Berges du Lac, people do not look for an apartment, they look for a residence: a four to six storey building, a guard at the entrance, a lift, a basement parking space and, if possible, a view of the water. The apartment rental market in Lac de Tunis has grown up around this product since the 1990s, first in Lac 1, then in Lac 2, where building sites have carried on almost without a break. Tenants are managers at banks and multinationals, embassy and international organisation staff, and young couples who work in the district's offices and no longer want to spend an hour a day in traffic jams.

On Houni, every listing is posted by an owner or an agency, with a number to call directly. Supply varies from week to week and depends heavily on staff movements at the start of the year and in September. To compare with the southern suburbs, from Radès to El Mourouj, all the apartments to rent in Ben Arous governorate can be browsed on a neighbouring page.

Lac 1 or Lac 2: two generations of developments

Lac 1 is the first district to rise from the water. Its streets are named after lakes around the world, its buildings are twenty to thirty years old and its apartments are often larger than those built today. An apartment for rent in Lac 1 generally offers generous rooms, deep balconies and quiet evenings, at the cost of sometimes dated finishes: original kitchens, window frames that let in the sea air, air conditioners due for replacement.

Lac 2 is newer and denser. Developments there are delivered with a fitted kitchen, central heating in the best of them, an en-suite shower room off the main bedroom, and shops on the ground floor with cafés, pharmacies and convenience stores. This is where demand for an S+2 (two bedrooms plus a living room) to rent in Lac 2 and for furnished apartments in Lac 2 is concentrated, with rents that often exceed those in Lac 1 for a comparable floor area. The surroundings of Tunisia Mall and the main roads stay lively until late; the inner streets remain quieter.

S+1, S+2, studio: what tenants pay

The S+1 is the format most in demand among young professionals and single expatriates. An unfurnished S+1 often rents for more than 1,200 DT, an S+2 in a recent development frequently exceeds 1,800 DT, and furnished units add noticeably to the bill, especially in Lac 2. These figures vary from one development to another and from one year to the next: read them as orders of magnitude, not as a price list. A studio to rent in Lac 1 does exist but remains rare, as the district's developers built few small units.

Service charges matter more here than elsewhere: round-the-clock guarding, lift maintenance, cleaning of common areas, sometimes a pool. Ask for the exact amount and whether it is included in the advertised rent. For a house or a villa floor rather than an apartment in a development, see the houses to rent in Lac de Tunis.

Before signing at Les Berges du Lac

The district is built on land reclaimed from the lagoon. In summer, mosquitoes are a reality at dusk, especially on the lower floors near the canals: check that there are mosquito screens. Also look for damp in the corners of the bedrooms and at the state of the window seals, two weak points of buildings exposed to the wind off the lake.

As for the contract, many leases are signed by the tenant's employer, with rent paid three or six months in advance. A private individual can obtain more flexible terms, but in every case insist on a written, registered contract, a dated inventory and a receipt for the deposit, which usually amounts to one or two months' rent. If you are torn between an apartment and a house, all the homes to rent in Lac de Tunis are grouped on a single page.