Houses for rent in Hammam Lif

Hammam Lif is the oldest seaside resort in the southern suburbs of Tunis. The town stretches between the sea and the Boukornine, along the railway linking Tunis to Borj Cédria, and its beylical and colonial past has left it a stock of old villas found neither in Ezzahra nor in Hammam Chott. Looking for a house to rent in Hammam Lif often means looking for one of these villas from the 1930s to the 1960s, or for one of their floors, split off by the heirs to be let separately.

Supply is small. The page holds very few listings of houses for rent in Hammam Lif, published by owners, and the number varies from week to week. To widen the search, all the houses to rent in the Ben Arous governorate group Ezzahra, Radès, Mégrine, Boumhel and Hammam Chott on a single page, and all property to rent in Hammam Lif, villa floors and flats included, give a fuller view of the delegation.

The seafront, Hammam Lif Ville and the casino district

The sought-after heart remains the strip between the station and the beach, the one listings call Hammam Lif Ville. Streets there are straight, lined with one-storey villas with a front garden and a garage at the side, built when Hammam Lif was the spa town of well-off Tunis families. The casino on the corniche and the former beylical palace set the tone of the district: old buildings, sometimes tired, with high ceilings and cement tiles that tenants appreciate.

A whole villa in this area rarely rents for less than 1,200 DT a month, more if it has been renovated and is a few minutes' walk from the sea. Many owners prefer to let by the year to a family rather than by the season, because the district lives all year round thanks to the station: the southern suburbs train takes about half an hour to reach central Tunis, and that is the number one argument for families who work in the capital without wanting to live there.

Cité Mohamed Ali, El Malaab and the foot of the Boukornine

On the other side of the railway and the national road, Cité Mohamed Ali is the town's working-class district: houses built by their owners on small plots, a ground floor with a courtyard and often an upper floor added later. This is where a cheap house to rent in Hammam Lif is most likely to be found, often between 500 and 800 DT depending on size and condition. Tenants are families from the southern suburbs, employees of the Ben Arous and Mégrine industrial zones, and a few households working at the Borj Cédria technology park.

El Malaab, around the Club Sportif de Hammam Lif stadium, and the lower slopes of the Boukornine mix both worlds: more recent houses, semi-detached villas from the 1980s and 1990s, some with a view over the gulf from the roof terrace. The area is quiet, well ventilated in summer, but further from the station: a car becomes almost essential.

Students, families and the calendar

Two kinds of demand meet in Hammam Lif. Family demand, by the year, looking for a ground floor with a garden for the children and a parking space, and student demand from the higher education institutions of Radès and Borj Cédria, which tends to rent a villa floor as a group. This second demand is concentrated between late August and October, when owners letting a furnished floor see calls multiply. A furnished villa floor to rent in Hammam Lif, with a separate entrance, usually goes before the start of term.

Summer works the other way: some seafront villas leave the yearly rental market from June to August to be let to holidaymakers or used by the owner's family. If you are looking for September, start in July and be ready to visit a house that is still occupied.

What to check before signing

Damp first. Old villas near the sea have thick walls but facades exposed to the north wind that mark quickly; look at the bottom of the walls and the ceilings of the sea-facing rooms, especially on a ground floor. The services next: in houses from the 1950s, the wiring has often been redone room by room, ask to see the fuse board. Finally the noise of the train and the national road, which you do not hear on a Sunday morning visit and which counts the rest of the week.

As for the contract, insist on a written lease registered at the tax office, stating the amount of the deposit, usually one to two months' rent, and who pays the municipal tax. In a villa shared between several heirs, check that the person signing is actually mandated by the others. And if you like the house enough to stay, the houses for sale in Hammam Lif show what this type of property is worth to buy.