Apartments for rent in Mornag

In Mornag, flats are thin on the ground. The delegation is still a plain of vineyards, olive groves and orchards, with an old town centre, villages such as Khelidia or Djebel Ressas and newer housing estates set down at the edge of the fields. Here people build a house, then a floor on top, and very often that floor ends up being let. Small blocks of three or four storeys do exist, mainly along the roads through the town and in Khelidia, but they are in the minority.

What you can find online comes down to a few listings, mostly posted by private owners. Each flat to rent in Mornag on Houni gives the number of the owner or agency, whom you call directly. If the choice looks too thin, the page of apartments to rent in the Ben Arous governorate widens the search to El Mourouj, Fouchana, Hammam Lif or Radès.

What is really on offer: villa floors and small blocks

The most common property is a villa floor: an S+2 or S+3 (two or three bedrooms plus a living room) on the first floor, with its own or a shared staircase, built by a family for a son not yet married or to top up their income. It often gives more floor space than a flat in a Ben Arous development, a terrace, and sometimes a spot for the car in the yard. The other side of it is that the owner lives on the ground floor, which calls for a degree of getting along.

Small blocks offer more standard S+1 and S+2 flats, with no lift or caretaker. You find them near the town centre, close to the shops and the louage (shared taxi) stops, and in the Khelidia estates that have filled in over recent years. A flat to rent in Mornag of this kind suits young couples, teachers and civil servants posted to the delegation, and people working in the Ben Arous or Mghira business parks who do not want to pay El Mourouj rents.

Khelidia, the town, Essalem: where to look

Khelidia has most of the recent building and therefore most of the new flats. Some estates still have streets being laid out, but local shops are following. A flat to rent in Khelidia works well for anyone commuting by road to the south of Tunis.

The town of Mornag is the opposite: less new building, but everything within walking distance, the market, the delegation's offices, the schools. Essalem and the more rural sectors, out to Djebel Ressas, mostly offer floors of family houses, quiet, with a car essential. If your budget or your family need more room, compare with the houses to rent in Mornag: the difference in rent is sometimes small.

Rents and timing

Rents stay well below those of El Mourouj or Ben Arous town. An S+2 to rent in Mornag rarely costs more than a well-placed S+1 in El Mourouj, and an S+1 to rent in Mornag often matches the budget for a studio in the southern suburbs. These gaps vary from street to street and year to year: go by the listings of the moment rather than an average.

The market moves mainly at the end of summer, before the school year, when families and teachers on new postings move in. The rest of the year, listings are rare and go by word of mouth. A cheap flat in Mornag is easier to find in October or February than in August.

Before you sign

Ask for a written, registered lease stating the term, the deposit (often one or two months) and how charges are split. On a villa floor, check whether the STEG and SONEDE meters are separate: if not, a shared bill soon becomes a point of friction. Also check the water supply in summer and the state of the access road after the winter rains, which turn some tracks on the plain to mud. Finally, if you are open to either a flat or a house, the page of accommodation to rent in Mornag brings every type of property together.