Renting an Apartment in Jerusalem: Listings, Contracts, Deposits and What to Check

Renting in Jerusalem is fast and informal compared with most countries: listings move in days, contracts are short, and the landlord's main question is whether you can prove you will pay. Expect a one-year lease with an option to extend, a deposit or guarantee, post-dated cheques or a standing order, and an apartment that is unfurnished in the Israeli sense, which usually means no appliances. This guide walks through each step and flags what catches English-speakers out.

Which neighbourhood to look in is a separate question; the neighbourhoods guide covers it. For the bills that follow the lease read arnona, va'ad bayit and utilities.

Where the listings are

• Yad2 is the national classifieds site and where most Jerusalem rentals appear first. Hebrew only; the filters are learnable in an evening with the vocabulary guide.
• Facebook and WhatsApp groups for Jerusalem apartments, and the Anglo community lists, carry the English-speaking landlords and sublets. Speed matters: reply the same hour.
• Agents (metavech) show apartments they hold exclusively and charge the tenant a fee if they made the match, customarily about one month's rent plus VAT. Ask up front who pays.
• Signs on buildings and the neighbourhood makolet noticeboard still work in the older neighbourhoods.

What you will be asked for

Landlords want proof of income or savings, an Israeli ID or passport, and security. Security comes in three common forms: a bank guarantee (arvut bankait, which freezes the amount in your account), a deposit held by the landlord, or one or two guarantors (arevim) who sign the contract. New arrivals without Israeli payslips are often asked for a larger deposit or a few months up front; olim can offer the ministry's rental assistance letter as evidence. Rent is paid monthly in advance, traditionally by twelve post-dated cheques handed over at signing, increasingly by standing order; your bank account needs to exist before you sign.

What an Israeli lease covers

Contracts are in Hebrew and one to three pages long. Have a Hebrew-reader or a lawyer go through it; the fee is small against a year of rent. Look for:

• Term and option: a year with an option to extend at a stated rent, or with a stated increase.
• Index linking: some rents are linked to the consumer price index; others fixed. Fixed is better for you.
• Repairs: who fixes the boiler, the air conditioner and the plumbing, and how fast. Small repairs are often the tenant's.
• Exit clause: whether you can leave early by finding a replacement tenant, and with how much notice.
• Inventory and condition: photograph everything on day one and attach the list; the deposit argument at the end is won or lost here.
• Painting: many leases require the tenant to repaint at the end. Negotiate it out or budget for it.

Furnished, unfurnished and what is missing

"Unfurnished" in Israel often means no fridge, oven, washing machine or light fittings; "semi-furnished" means some of them; "furnished" is usually a departing family's set. Ask specifically about the fridge, the oven, the air conditioners and the hot-water system: a dud shemesh (solar water heater) on the roof with an electric backup is standard, and knowing where its switch is saves cold showers. Heating is by air conditioner in most apartments; older buildings without one are cold in January.

Moving in: the transfers

In the first week transfer the electricity account, the water account (Hagihon in Jerusalem, with the number of people in the household registered for the allowance), the gas (bulk or balloon), and the arnona municipal tax into your name, with a meter reading and a copy of the lease for each. New olim claim the arnona discount at the same time; it is not backdated. The bills guide has each step.

Moving out

Give notice in writing by the date in the contract, close the utility accounts with final readings, hand back the apartment in the photographed condition, and get the deposit or cheques back at the handover. If you painted, keep the receipt. A tenant who leaves a clean apartment and copies of the final bills gets the deposit back the same week; one who leaves it to the landlord to chase does not.

For new olim

The Ministry of Aliyah and Integration pays rental assistance to eligible new olim for a period after arrival, claimed with the lease and the Teudat Oleh; ask your absorption counsellor for the current terms. Nefesh B'Nefesh and the AACI both run housing lists and will read a lease with you.

Hebrew you will meet

• dira le'haskara — apartment for rent
• chozeh — contract
• arev / arvut bankait — guarantor / bank guarantee
• pikadon — deposit
• metavech — agent
• cheder — room (a 3-room apartment has two bedrooms and a living room)
• mirpeset — balcony

More everyday words, with the situations they turn up in, are in our Hebrew vocabulary guide.

Common questions

How much is the agent's fee in Jerusalem?

The custom is one month's rent plus VAT, paid by whoever the agent worked for; if you found the apartment yourself and only met the landlord's agent at the viewing, ask whether a fee applies before you sign anything.

Do I need a guarantor to rent in Israel?

Often, if you have no Israeli income history. Alternatives landlords accept are a bank guarantee, a larger deposit or several months' rent in advance. Olim can show the ministry's rental assistance letter.

What does a 3-room apartment mean?

Israeli listings count all rooms except kitchen and bathrooms, so a 3-room apartment has two bedrooms and a living room. A half room is a small extra room.

Is rent negotiable?

Yes, within reason, especially for a longer term, a fast decision or an apartment that has sat for a few weeks. Furnishings, painting clauses and the option-year rent are as negotiable as the headline figure.

Something in your lease we did not cover? Tell us and we will fix it.