Flats and houses for rent - what you need to know

What you can find pretty easily are flats for single individuals as there has always been a massive flux of immigrants coming to work in Libya. Rent vary of course from city to city, Tripoli being the most expensive, like all capital cities. One thing is for sure however the prices are going up. In the one year i've been here i can see it and all the people i talked to agree. It is therefore difficult to give a price range, the demand is getting higher and there are not enough offers so prices are negotiable usually with landlords reminding you they have a full waiting list... so be prepared to expand our budget once you find a flat you like.

Finding a family flat (3 or more bedrooms) is also possible but slightly more difficult. What you get when you find them though is worth the wait. People here build flats for their children, waiting for them to get married. In the meantime they rent those flats so they don't stay empty and of course to earn some cash in the process. So those are usually brand new and finished to high standards, remember they are for family members not strangers so they are pretty much perfect. Here again prices vary and the bigger the flat the more competition you'll have (see next point).

Family houses are extremely difficult to find, almost impossible and there are two main reasons for that. First of all when Libyan build houses it is usually for them or their family so they are occupied as soon as they are finished. Besides up until recently immigrants were coming alone to Libya as the situation was too dangerous to bring the whole family over so there was little demand for family houses so nobody bothered building for the renting market.

Second of all if you're looking for a large house, you'll be competing against a much stronger "adversary". Companies in Libya like to house their single male (expat) employees in big houses as part of their salary package. They also provide transport to work, this way they make sure their employees are on time at work. And those companies are ready to pay a rent that you won't be able to afford. While a 4 bedroom house can be rented to a family for anything between 1000 and 1500 LB (Libyan Dinars), a company will pay nothing less than 2500 LB. Companies can pay even much much more than that for very large houses with more bedrooms. For them it's all good, they put 2 people per room and still make their money.

So how can you secure a house then? There are some things that play in your favour if you're a family. For a start you may accept an unfurnished house while companies require fully furnished house. Then if the house happens to be in one of those family compound, landlords will often prefer a small family to a large group of single males to be neighbours to their ladies. Money wise you don't really stand a chance but you can win on the human front. Libyan people value people more than money i've often found so talk to them, man to man kinda thing and you can see results.

One last thing, when you move to Libya you'll need a place to stay straight away. Some employers offer you 10 days in a hotel when you first land in Libya, most likely if you don't know the city, if you don't know people on the ground it won't be enough to find a suitable property. I suggest renting anything for 6 months to give you the time to find the perfect house or flat.