Rental housing in Georgia: where and how to rent an apartment in Tbilisi?

The issue of renting an apartment in Tbilisi arises not only for those who have decided to move to Georgia, but even for tourists who prefer independent travel and want to stay in the city for more than a couple of days. In this article we will tell you what you should pay attention to when deciding to rent a house in Tbilisi, what prices you can expect, where to look for offers, how and what to communicate with the owners beforehand.

How to rent an apartment in Tbilisi for a long time? 

Sites for rental housing in Georgia:

To search for housing in Tbilisi, you can, of course, use standard methods like AirBnb or Booking. But it is better to "try your luck" on local websites, where you can get an idea of both the housing stock and real prices.

myhome.ge

ss.ge

area.ge

place.ge

Home.ge

Livo.ge

Most of these resources have a choice of language, offers for both long-term and daily rental housing in Tbilisi, as well as options for sale.

Feature. Please note that when choosing accommodation on the above sites, it is unlikely that you will be able to contact the owners or an agent online – in most cases you will have to call or ask friends who are already in Georgia to do it for you. Alternatively, you can try adding the specified phone to WatsApp or Viber – there is a possibility that the contact person uses one of the messengers.

In the second case, we recommend writing a message in both Russian and English. You can also add a Georgian layout on your phone and send a Georgian text through a translator. There are not many people in Georgia who do not understand Russian or English at all, but, nevertheless, there are such people.

The second option, which is quite effective for Georgia, is Facebook. This network is the main platform for local advertising. If you want to find any information, please contact Russian-speaking Georgian groups immediately. Therefore, if you plan to rent a house in Georgia, we recommend placing an ad in one of the following groups (or in all at once):

Russian - speaking Georgia

Ads

Bulletin board

Tbilisi – ads

Tbilisi (ads, jobs, real estate)

Tbilisi Info

Appartment Purchase or Sale ads in Tbilisi

In the ad, try to specify your requirements as clearly as possible: budget, area, number of rooms, furniture, appliances, etc. But be prepared for the fact that even in this case, there will be a lot of proposals that do not meet the stated criteria.

Another way to find accommodation in Tbilisi is to seek help from an agent. The advantage is that you do not have to pay for his services – the commission is taken from the owner. Minus – you will have to pay the rent in two months. But the second part of the money will go either to offset the last month under the contract, or as collateral.

Features of working with agents:

Contract. If the agent is serious and has been working on the market for several days, he will definitely offer to sign a contract drawn up in two languages – Georgian and Russian/English. Feel free to read out all the prescribed conditions in detail and make edits. But keep in mind that the contract is signed for six or 12 months. Options, for example, for three months are very rare.

Variants. Feel free to collaborate with multiple agents in parallel. Tell everyone your search criteria and ask them to send housing options to the messenger.

Communication. A good agent does not disappear even after you have rented a house. It is often with his help that you communicate with the owners of the house, agree on the initial and subsequent conditions, especially if the owners speak only Georgian. The agent also solves the price issue: you can ask him to discuss with the owners the cost of rent, purchase of additional furniture and appliances, etc. at the viewing stage.

It is not difficult to find an agent – just look at the above sites and see who posted the ad. If there are more than a few ads in the user's arsenal, it is most likely an agent. You can safely add the specified phone to messengers and write with a request to choose options.

Posting an ad on Facebook, you won't have to look for anyone – the agents will write to you themselves. Or another option is to write a separate ad with a request to recommend trusted agents.

Long-term and daily rental of housing in Tbilisi: features and prices

- Long term

If you decide to rent an apartment in Tbilisi for a long time, keep in mind that the rate will directly depend on the area, the time of year, the quality of housing and "additional accessories". For example, an oven and a bathroom instead of a shower in local apartments are rare, so get ready for the fact that both are found in more expensive apartments.

The rate may vary dramatically. For example, a small cozy studio near the Marjanishvili metro station or in Sololaki (these are all central districts) can cost 500 lari ($ 150) if you are looking for an apartment in winter, the floor and balcony are not important to you, as well as a lot of space in the house. In the same season and for the same price, you can find an apartment much more spacious in a residential area – say, in Muhiani/Temke, in Samgori/Varketili.

If we are talking about the height of summer, the same modest studio will cost 200-300 lari ($ 60-90) more. But in more remote "sleeping bags" the rates will not rise so high – in the range of 100-150 lari ($ 30-45), since tourists rarely visit these parts of the city.

If you are moving with your family and looking for more spacious options, then a large well-equipped apartment, say, in Vaka with two bedrooms and a full set of appliances, can be rented for 1,500-3,000 lari ($ 460-920), depending on the season, location and the housing itself. In the same Gldani, the same apartment will cost 1,000-1,200 ($300-370).

To better navigate the districts of Tbilisi and consciously decide where to rent a house or apartment – check out our article: Districts of Tbilisi: where is it better to rent a house?

- Daily rent

If we are talking about daily rental of housing in Tbilisi, the prices will be much higher.

If you search through the popular AirBnb and Booking, the cost of a day in the season will start from $ 15-20. If you select options through the sites that we have indicated above, you can find decent apartments for $ 10 per day, and in a variety of areas.

If you are planning a trip to Georgia in late autumn / early spring, the rates will be more pleasant – minus 30-50% of the summer price.

Is it possible to find affordable housing in Tbilisi?

You can rent an apartment in Tbilisi for both $ 200 and $ 5,000. It all depends on how much you are ready to "move" in terms of comfort, which area you prefer and what requirements you have for housing in general.

Here are a few options on how to reduce the cost of rent:

If you want to live closer to the center, look for options on the ground floor and/or in the "Italian courtyards". In the first case, the price is lower, because it is not easy to rent a house – the low floor in old houses is often low, so you can forget about privacy and a balcony. In the second case, a nuance with sound insulation: the "Italian courtyard" is a closed small space in which all the neighbors are as close to each other as possible. Therefore, get ready for the fact that you will hear what is happening in the yard and at the neighbors, and the neighbors will hear you perfectly.

If the area is not important to you, consider a more remote location from the center. From inexpensive options – Varketili, Samgori, Muhiani, Temka, Gldani. From even more remote and cheap – Airport, Africa. And if you want infrastructure, and close to Tbilisi, and inexpensive – consider Rustavi. Minibuses run constantly, to the capital – 20-25 minutes.

You can look for housing in Georgia in the private sector. Renting a whole house is unlikely to be cheaper than an apartment. But often the owners rent the second floor of the cottage in which they live themselves, or an extension in the yard.

The price of renting a house in Tbilisi strongly depends on the season, although the difference is not as great as if you rent an apartment in Batumi. However, if you are looking for options in January-February, the average rates will be 1.2-1.5 times lower compared to June-July. In addition, it is more reasonable to look for housing in winter if you plan to find an option for a long time – it will immediately be clear how things are with heating.

And, of course, the easiest option to find inexpensive housing in Tbilisi is to rent it together with someone. In this case, you can even rent a spacious, comfortable apartment, but due to the separation of utility bills and the rental rate, you can save significantly. You can find a future neighbor through Facebook.

How to rent an apartment in Tbilisi and not make a mistake? 4 recommendations

Personal inspection. Renting a house in Georgia, focusing only on the photo in the ad is a good option only if you want to rent an apartment or a house for rent, for a few days. As a rule, high-quality detailed photos are taken for such objects, which fully reflect reality.

When it comes to the long-term rental housing market in Tbilisi, everything is not so rosy. In most ads – bad fuzzy photos, minimal description. In addition, if you can survive a couple of days in an uncomfortable apartment, then immediately move in for a long time in housing that will not suit you later – so-so option.

Checking housing. When inspecting a house or apartment, pay attention to thermal insulation: whether the windows and the entrance door are draughty, what type of heating system is installed, how the heaters are located, windows overlook the sunny or shady side. If you are looking for housing in Tbilisi in autumn or winter – see how warm the house is and at what temperature the heater works.

Agree on all additional purchases to the apartment (appliances, dishes) in advance, and if you find any defects, be sure to take pictures and immediately show them to the owners. If possible, check if the equipment is working and if there is hot water.

Utilities In Georgia

When inspecting the housing, be sure to ask the owners how many people are registered in the apartment or house (the payment for water and maintenance of the house depends on this), how much the heating "pulls" in winter. If possible, ask for the contacts of previous tenants or electronic utility bills for the previous month.

Insist on paying all the bills yourself. To do this, the owners just need to give you the account numbers and the names of the service companies.

We told you more about the types of heating systems and the features of utilities in the article "Communal apartment" in Georgia: how to pay and what to expect?

Neighborhood, neighbors, construction site. Your satisfaction with rented housing will be strongly influenced by the area in which you live. Each part of Tbilisi has its own everyday features, which we describe in detail in the article about the districts (link – above).

Looking around the apartment, pay attention to which people live in your house, whether there are uninhabited apartments nearby, because in this case, get ready for the intoxicating sounds of a drill when housing finds an owner. It would not be superfluous to inspect the house's territory – whether there are construction sites nearby or large empty spaces that are likely to be given over to new construction.

Keep in mind that in Georgia, they can start building a new house literally at arm's length from a ready-made complex. And the time of work is not limited by the government.

We hope that our knowledge and recommendations will help you better understand the housing market in Tbilisi and rent an apartment that will fully suit you in price and quality.