If you’re planning a long-term move to Israel, whether that be for a month or a year, you may want to rent an apartment in Israel. We had the opportunity to go through the process of renting an apartment in Israel for a year while I attended university in Tel Aviv, Israel. Although we have rented several apartments in the United States, both short-term and long term rentals, this was nothing like anything we had ever done in the United States. Each time we thought that we had an understanding of what apartment searching would look like, we found new surprises.
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Challenges faced by renters in Israel
In Israel, there is seemingly no big database of available apartments for rent. Additionally, you won’t find a lot of big apartment management companies with a bunch of apartments listed online either. So, finding apartments in Israel relies much more heavily on either who you know, or you can pay a realtor to use their networks to help you find an apartment. There are additional fees, paid to different people. Very little of it can be done online or in an automated process. As an example, to rent our apartment, we had to bring physical cash for a security deposit. Getting that amount of cash in Israel is surprisingly difficult. (To jump to the end of the story, after trying for a few hours, we still weren’t able to do it.)
Understanding the rental market in Israel
Apartments in Israel, and more specifically in Tel Aviv, generally go very quickly. Of course, Realtors and Landlords will tell you that the apartment has a lot of interest to convince you to move quickly. But, during the time that we were looking for apartments, many apartments did seem to have a lot of interest and move on and off the market quickly. But, we also saw some sit on the market for weeks. As I mentioned above, there doesn’t seem to be any central database making apartment searching easy, with the most common place to find them on Facebook Groups or Facebook Marketplace.
Average rental prices
Prices vary wildly, and to this day, we still don’t know how to determine what is a fair price. Rent for rooms was as low as 3,000 NIS, and for independent apartments were as high as 20,000 NIS or more. Prices varied depending on location, size, quality, furnishings, and what the landlord think they can get for it. We also saw a number of apartments that changed prices, both up and down, over the course of a couple of weeks. There are also additional expenses you’ll need to consider, like house committee, arona, and utilities but we’ll cover those in more detail in a later section.
Something else to consider is that many people offer sublets on the Facebook groups. If they are not returning to their apartments it gives you the option to renew the lease. The listings have a “price until” rent. The price is guaranteed through the end of the contract with an unknown renewal increase.
Popular areas for renting apartments in Israel
There are a number of great neighborhoods that are prime for renting apartments. We started living in the Old North, near Ha’Media Square. Lots of restaurants, grocery stores, cafes and bus stops nearby. Although the entire area is currently under construction, it was still an incredible place to live. When we left, it was actually a little sad and we missed it. Other neighborhoods that we considered worth checking out, was the North Jaffa and Jaffa areas. Daphne describes the area as “What the middle-east looks like in every Disney movie.” Just be aware that areas not too far south of there are not as dog-friendly.
We ended up deciding to go for something very much in the city center. Anything near Dizengoff Square is perfect if you want to explore the shops, restaurants and bars of central Tel Aviv. If your big focus is on night-life, anything along Allenby Street is great for you, just try to get something facing away from the street as it can get loud into the very early hours of the morning. We ended up deciding to live within a few blocks of Dizengoff Center, one of the largest malls in Tel Aviv, and just a 10 minute walk to the beach. Seemingly unlimited number of restaurants, cafes and bars all within a short walk away.
Types of apartments available for rent
There are a couple of types of apartments for rent. The “standard apartment” is unfurnished, but note, unlike the United States, unfurnished also means that it doesn’t often include kitchen appliances like fridge, stove, or oven. So, if unless you plan on staying for a long time and willing to buy all of your own furnishings and appliances, it may not be the right choice for you. If you do plan on staying long enough to warrant buying furnishings, there are plenty of apartments that will also come “unfurnished,” but the current tenants are offering to sell of their furnishings, often at a discount, to avoid having to move it.
Partially Furnished
Partially furnished usually means that kitchen appliances are generally included. However, there are no other furnishings. Although we did see a number of “partially furnished” that included kitchen appliances and a random couch or table or something. Again, these are ones that the previous tenants are willing to sell their current furnishings. Sometimes, the post will specifically say that priority for renting the apartment will go to individuals willing to purchase the furniture.
Fully Furnished
Finally, fully furnished, or just furnished, is as it sounds. Although these apartments are seemingly less common. Many of the furnished apartments we found were AirBnBs turned into long-term apartments. Just a note that a huge number of the fully furnished apartments didn’t allow for pets, so something to keep in mind if you’re traveling with one. We did find about dozen fully furnished apartments that allowed pets to look at, so there are choices.
Other Options
Also be aware that there are rooms for rent in shared apartments or homes. Or sublets, in which you stay in somebody else’s house for either a shorter period of time, or the remainder of their lease. Both of these have their pros and cons with renting a room being the cheapest option. Sublets can be a great option for a short term stay. They are often furnished. But may not work if you’re looking for something longer term.
Finding an apartment to rent in Israel
Finding an apartment was so much harder than we expected, and we should have anticipated it taking more time. There are a couple of ways to find one. However, none of them are as fast or efficient as we’re used to in the United States. We’ve done entire rental agreements online in the United States without ever meeting our landlords. Not so the case in Israel. There are three primary ways to find an apartment in Israel
Real estate agents
There are lots of real estate agents in Israel. If you search Facebook groups or online classified ads, the majority of apartments that you find listed will be via real estate agents. Generally, it will tell you that there is a broker fee or realtor fee. That is your clue that there is a real estate agent involved. You can also hire a real estate agent separately to help search for apartments for you. But, from our experience, realtors can only show you apartments that they represent. So, if you find something you like on a Facebook group, for example, they may not be able to show it to you. But, they can take a lot of the stress out of the process if you aren’t really picky, especially if you can’t read or speak Hebrew.
Classified ads
The most common place to find apartment rentals in Israel is on Facebook. There are a number of Facebook Groups that cater specifically to this purpose. Search for “Apartments in Tel Aviv” groups to find several of them written in English. We also found some ads on Craigslist. If you can read Hebrew, there are also classified ads in the local newspapers. But, that doesn’t really work for us.
The Facebook Groups have dozens of posts every day, so it can be overwhelming. But, there are lots of good options to consider. The challenge is that there isn’t an easy way to search the posts, and there isn’t consistency in the posts. Some include what furniture is included, some include the price, some state if pets are allowed, some include the location, but many do not. So, there are plenty of times in which you need to reach out to the realtor or landlord to ask more questions. Some posts specifically say that they don’t respond to Facebook messages, so you need to contact them on WhatsApp. And if they do respond on Facebook, they often quickly move the conversation to Whatsapp. So, tracking apartments and realtors can be challenging with a bunch of different realtors.
Networking with locals
Israel, in general, is a very socially connected society. If you know somebody in Israel who can help you look for an apartment, use them. Ask anybody you know to help you find a place. Since we were here because Larry was attending the University, other students and staff helped also look for apartments. Of course, if you don’t know anybody in Israel yet, and don’t have those connections, you’ll need to look to one of the previous options.
The process To Rent An Apartment in Israel
So, you’ve found an apartment that you like, using one of the methods above. You’ve contacted them, asked all of the important questions to ensure that the apartment works for you. What’s next?
Viewing apartments
You’ll need to contact either realtors or landlords, or even sometimes tenants to schedule a viewing. Generally the viewings only lasted 20 minutes or so. They gave us the tour, explained the basics of costs, amenities and benefits. Even after viewing the apartment we eventually choose, we had to schedule another day to come back and meet with the owner to sign the lease.
Signing a lease agreement
Our lease agreement was written fully in Hebrew, but we were able to get somebody to translate it for us. It was a “standard lease,” which was barely a page long, and was very vague. It was the shortest apartment lease we’ve ever signed. I would strongly recommend having a native Hebrew speaker review the contract before signing it. We tried using Google Translate, and the results we got weren’t even close to the reality of the contract.
Paying a security deposit
We were asked to pay our security deposit, which was one month’s rent, fully in cash. Although that sounds easy, it took us hours, and we still managed to be unsuccessful. Without a Israeli Credit/Debit card, we couldn’t use an ATM to take out cash. Despite there being currency exchange places that accept credit cards, we couldn’t make that work either. My Israeli bank isn’t open on Thursdays through Saturday. Obviously, we didn’t have enough US Dollars or New Israeli Shekels to cover the security deposit. So, in short, if you’re looking to rent an apartment in Israel, and don’t have a Israeli debit card, you’ll need to plan ahead to ensure that you can cover the security deposit.
There are other security deposit options that include bank guarantee, guarantors, or additional checks or cash. What landlords request varies significantly. But, we have found that most landlords are also very flexible and willing to negotiate. For example, we don’t have any guarantors within Israel, but our landlord just decided on different security deposit requirements.
Paying rent and utilities
Paying rent is Israel is very different than in the United States. Most places that we considered renting wanted us to pay a yearly rent via 12 pre-written checks. Essentially, the day we signed the lease, we wrote a post-dated check for each month that we were going to be staying in the apartment. Our landlord will then deposit them each month going forward. The benefit is that we won’t need to worry about paying rent again for the rest of the year, but there are obvious drawbacks too.
Paying utilities is also a very different experience. Our landlord took a picture of the electric meter. Then said that he would “periodically” take a new picture and send us a bill. He also said that they might just wait until the end of our year-long lease and give us a bill. Or we can just have it taken out of our security deposit at the end of the year. It was very informal process. And we have no idea when or how much to expect for utilities. You’ll also need to consider if there are additional utilities such as water, internet, cable, or telephone.
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Budgeting for rental expenses
Other common expenses that you’ll need to consider is Arnona, which is essentially municipal taxes. It may be included in your rent, but in most cases, it’s a separate expense. Another common expense in renting an apartment is Vaad Bayit, which is comparable to homeowners association fees. Vaad Bayit covers things like apartment building maintenance, lawn care, cleaning and community spaces like your protected spaces. It’s usually collected by the building owners, separate from your regular rent.
Other considerations for renting an apartment in Israel
Although we already covered a lot of considerations, there is one more important one, especially as we write this in October 2023. Earlier this month, Israel officially entered a state of war. Hundreds of rockets are regularly launched towards Israel on a regular basis. So, you’ll want to consider your access to a protected space.
Protected Space
There are three type of protected spaces in a building. A public protected space, Mamam, which is commonly found in public spaces or businesses. For example, our nearby public park has a public community shelter within it. A communal protected space, a Mamak, is required in almost all residential buildings without a Mamad, a protected room. A mamak is often in the basement of many apartment buildings, and is the protected space for all residents within the building. A mamad is a room, generally within each apartment within the building, that is hardened and protected.
In short, know where your nearest protected space is. In Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, you have 90 seconds from when the sirens sound to get to your protected space. So, ensure that your building has a protected space and that you can access as needed. We don’t want to think about it being a concern, but it is. In some instances, people showing us apartments didn’t know where the protected space was, so we had to find it together.
Conclusion: Renting An Apartment In Israel
Although renting an apartment is very different in Israel than renting an apartment in the United States, it’s still possible. I would recommend allowing at least a few weeks for apartment searching. Plan on devoting a fair amount of those weeks to apartment searching. Ask lots of questions, and be willing to negotiate anything that doesn’t work for you. Just ensure that you get any negotiated changes in writing. But, most importantly, enjoy your time in Israel. And read some more of our posts about life in Israel.
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