Houses for rent in El Hamma

The house is El Hamma's natural home. A ground floor on a family plot, an inner courtyard with rooms set around it, a staircase up to the roof terrace and often a concrete slab waiting for another storey: that is the pattern you see in almost every sector of town. Renting a whole house is more common here than in Gabès, and in many cases for a rent no higher than that of an average flat on the coast.

You still need to be realistic about supply. Listings of houses to rent in El Hamma are few online, and when they do appear they come from private owners: a landlord living in Gabès, Tunis or abroad, or a family that has built elsewhere and lets the original house. If this page is empty or nearly so, all the houses for rent in Gabès governorate also show Gabès town, Métouia and Mareth, a few dozen minutes' drive away.

The sectors and their houses

In El Ksar, the old heart of town, you find traditional patio houses whose thick walls keep the heat out. They often need freshening up, and the wiring and plumbing should be checked, but their layout suits a large family well. Farhat Hached has newer houses close to the shops, often with an upper floor lived in by the owner or let separately.

The East and South sectors, more spacious, are where the estate houses are: street frontage, garage, back courtyard, sometimes a small garden with a few palms or a pomegranate tree. On the edge of the oasis, some houses come with access to an irrigated plot; in that case, agree with the owner whether the garden is part of the let and who pays for irrigation water.

In every sector, a rented house often keeps the mark of the family that built it: a locked room where furniture is stored, a shed at the back of the courtyard, a bedroom kept for summer visits. Ask at the viewing exactly what is included, so you do not find out in August that the owner plans to use part of the house during his holidays.

Who it suits, and at what rent

House rentals in El Hamma draw families posted to the delegation, households wanting room for the children, and Gabès employees willing to drive in every day to pay less. Rents stay low compared with the coast: a plain house often lets for barely more than a single floor, and a recent house with a garage and air conditioning asks more, without reaching Gabès town levels.

Villas in the strict sense, with a large walled plot and recent finishes, are rare and often belong to emigrants who live in them over the summer. They are sometimes let by the year, provided you accept that the owner takes the property back on an agreed date. If a whole house is beyond your budget, look at the apartments to rent in El Hamma, almost always house floors with their own entrance.

Before you sign

View the whole house, roof included. Go up onto the terrace: the waterproofing and the state of the water tank say a lot about upkeep. In El Hamma the summer heat is fierce and winter nights can be cool; check which way the bedrooms face and whether there are reversible air conditioners.

On the contract side, have the term, the deposit, who pays for minor repairs and the status of the courtyard and garden spelled out. If the owner lives abroad, ask who represents him locally for emergencies. Lastly, note the water and electricity meter readings on the day you move in.

Widening the search within the delegation

A vacant house does not stay online for long, especially between July and September. To see at a glance everything let in town, houses and floors together, the page of property to rent in El Hamma is the most complete, and word of mouth at the market or the café usefully fills in the gaps.