Houses for rent in Kairouan

The house remains the standard home in Kairouan. Families live on the ground floor around a courtyard, and when they move, it is rarely to an apartment. A house for rent in Kairouan therefore attracts households with children first, but also transferred civil servants who come with the whole family, and groups of students who share the bedrooms.

This page brings together the houses for rent across the governorate, from the old dar near the medina to the villa in the recent districts, by way of town houses in the smaller centres. Listings are posted by the owners or by an agency, and you deal with them directly. Supply varies from week to week: the best houses do not stay online for long, especially in summer.

Three types of house, three budgets

The traditional dar, with rooms opening onto a patio, is found mostly in the old neighbourhoods around the medina. Its thick walls keep it cool in summer, but the kitchen and bathroom are often old and parking is complicated. It is the most affordable house rental in Kairouan's city, for anyone willing to accept some comfort upgrades.

The estate house, built since the 1980s on a standard plot, makes up most of the supply: three or four rooms, a courtyard, often a garage, sometimes an upper floor let separately. Finally, the villa is found in more recent developments, with a garden and a fence; it appeals to managers and doctors, and its rent comes close to what you pay for a good apartment in the Sahel. The houses for rent in Kairouan Sud, where a great deal has been built over the last twenty years, offer the widest range.

The route de Haffouz and the edges of the city

Many families look for a house for rent on the route de Haffouz, at the western way out of the city. The estates along this road offer roomier houses for a lower rent than in the central districts, with courtyards where you park the car and the children play. The downside is distance: shopping, school and work mean using a car or a louage. The same reasoning applies to the other roads out of town, towards Sousse or Sbikha.

Students look elsewhere. Houses close to the university institutes, in particular the higher institute of computer science, are often let to groups of three or four who share the bedrooms. The owner then prefers a lease in the name of a single tenant, with an advance covering the first term. On the north side of the city, the houses for rent in Kairouan Nord include more old neighbourhood houses.

Renting a house in a small town

Outside the city, the house is almost the only option. In Echrarda, to the south-east, and in El Alaa, to the south-west, single-storey houses with a courtyard and sometimes a bit of land are let at modest rents. Tenants are teachers, health workers and families who have come back to settle near their parents. The choice is narrow: some weeks, the houses for rent in Echrarda and those in El Alaa can be counted on one hand, and a direct call to the owner is worth more than a long exchange of messages.

In these towns, check the connection to the drinking water network. Some houses still depend on a cistern or a well, which changes everything in high summer. Also ask whether the house has an electricity meter in its own name and whether the access track stays passable after rain.

Before signing the lease

Visit a house twice if possible: once by day for the light and the condition of the walls, and once in the late afternoon for the heat stored in the rooms. Look at the waterproofing of the roof terrace, since autumn storms always find the cracks, and at the state of the septic tank or the sewer connection. The contract should state the rent, the term, the advance, the deposit and the inventory. If you plan to stay a long time, also compare with the houses for sale in Kairouan: the gap between rent and a mortgage repayment is sometimes smaller than you would think.