The Libyan renting market is a difficult one and for your first time it might be best to go through an agency. Of course if you know the city well or if you have contacts on the ground, it's best to do it your way.
Agencies in Libya are not quite what you'd expect, don't look for picture ads on their window front or nice little portfolios. They are just the guys who can do what you can't in a city you don't know: listen in the right places, talk to the right people to find you the house you need. Business is by words of mouth and they know where to go for the latest news on places to rent. They can get you something to your liking but don't be too rigid on your requirements, be prepared to compromise as there are very little properties on the renting market. As for going through many agencies, basically no need, they all work together and you won't get more from one agency than you get from the others. As for agency fees, it is the norm to expect half the rent in fees. If you don't know the city yet, it's worth it believe me.
TIP #1
Make sure you follow up your agent, don't let them forget about you. In Libya people make business face to face, if they don't see you or hear from you for while they'll simply assume you don't need their services anymore.
Landlords: ahhhh if only we could do without them... Renting out private properties to foreigners is fairly recent in Libya and there are no established code of conduct so expect everything. First of all, like all landlords all over the world they'll have you believe their property is the best you can find, that they have loads of other applicants and that you should therefore pay much more than it is worth. Past that "prep talk" stage you can negotiate the rent to a certain extent but remember that demand is high while offers are low so you're not on the strong side. If you reach an agreement they may ask you for 1 month, 6 months or even 12 months rent in advance.
Once you have paid your rent you're on your own, many landlords consider that the property is now "yours" so any issue, problems or things to fix are your problem not theirs. That even includes construction problems like a leaking roof (it happened to us, we were told to isolate the roof again). When you decide to leave the property be prepared, they want their house back the way they gave it to you... i mean exactly the way they gave it to you. If something was new, they want it new. If something stopped working out of normal wear and tear, not their problem, it was working when they gave it to you. Of course landlords are not all the same and you'll probably be lucky enough to get the best ones.
True Story: We once signed up to rent a little flat in Misurata, only to change our minds when we were offered a much better last minute option. We had already paid half the first month rent and the landlord was expecting the other half. When we went to see him to tell him we were pulling out, we decided to ask for our money back because we needed it but we also agreed that the landlord was entitled to keep all of it as we had lost him a week and many potential tenants. When we explained the situation to him he wouldn't hear a word and gave us all the money back. He said that he was looking forward to us being a part of his community, that money was not the most important and that he wouldn't be the one giving Libyans a bad name.
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In Libya business is business but not like everywhere else, money is not as important as people's honour and their good names. Many Libyans would rather give up money than risk you having a bad opinion of them, their family or the Libyan people. Libyans are really amazingly warm hearted.
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