Houses for rent in Bab El Bhar

Looking for a house to rent in Bab El Bhar means searching a delegation where nearly everyone lives in an apartment. The city centre, Lafayette and the streets around Avenue Habib Bourguiba are made of buildings, and detached houses are the exception. The ones you find on this page are concentrated in two very different areas: the villas of Berges du Lac, built since the 1990s, and a few older houses around Cité Jardins, between Lafayette and the Belvédère.

Supply does exist, though, and it is plentiful: villas and houses run over several pages, posted by owners and agencies who mostly let by the year. To widen the search to El Menzah, Ennasr or La Marsa, all the houses to rent in the Tunis governorate can be browsed on a single page.

Lac 1 and Lac 2: the villa let to a family or a company

A villa for rent in Lac 1 is usually a 1990s or 2000s build on two levels, with a garden, a garage and sometimes a small pool, on residential streets close to banks and embassies. These houses offer floor space and a quiet neighbourhood in the evening. The buildings have aged unevenly: some have been redone, others keep their original joinery and waterproofing.

A villa for rent in Lac 2 is in another league. Newer builds, better finishes, often a pool, and tenants who are expatriate executives, diplomats and diaspora families settled for a few years. The rent of a villa with a pool in Lac 2 runs to several thousand dinars a month, well above that of a large apartment in the same district. Many of these villas are rented by companies for their managers, on a two or three year lease negotiated in one go.

Some of the Lac 1 villas also serve as offices, practices or association headquarters. If you plan to live there, check that the house has not been converted into open plan space, and that the immediate neighbours are not companies with people coming and going all day.

Villa floors and older houses, the more affordable alternative

Between a whole villa and an apartment in a residence, the villa floor remains a sought after option: a ground floor with a garden or a first floor with a terrace, a separate entrance, and the owner living on the other level. In Lac 1, it is often the choice of couples who want a garden without paying for a whole house. Ask who looks after the garden and any pool, and how the water bills are split.

Around Cité Jardins and the streets near Lafayette, you still find a few houses from the colonial era or the 1950s, with high ceilings and a town garden. They are rare, seldom come free, and often need work on damp or wiring. The rent is more reasonable than in the Lac for a comparable size, with the advantage of walking to the centre. For those who accept a building, apartments to rent in Bab El Bhar offer far more choice.

When to search, and what to ask on the viewing

The villa market follows the calendar of job transfers and the school year. Expatriate families arrive between June and September, and the best Lac 2 houses are often let before the start of the school year. Conversely, a house still listed in winter leaves more room to negotiate the rent or get work done before moving in.

On the viewing, look at the roof terrace and the ceiling corners: the Lac is built on former wetland and some houses show damp upstairs as well as in the basement. Run the air conditioners and the heating, test the water pressure, and ask about the pump if the villa has a pool. On the contract side, a written lease registered at the tax office, a clearly set deposit, usually one to three months of rent, and a signed inventory with the STEG and SONEDE meter readings avoid most disputes.

One last point specific to the area: who is responsible for the garden, the pool and the security guard. On the streets of Lac 2, some owners include it, others leave it to the tenant. For an overview of the delegation, villas and apartments together, the page of homes to rent in Bab El Bhar brings all the listings together.