How to Find Housing in Lahore, Pakistan

Finding housing in a city of 8 to 10 million doesn't need to be as difficult as it seems. The best thing to do when you arrange your travel to Lahore is to have your company find you temporary housing for a week. Real Estate agents are plenty and can be very helpful. You can usually find a suitable place and finalize the deal within 2 to 5 days. Estate agents know what properties are available and can drive you around to see them. We used The Deal Makers and they were very good. Their office is located in Defence in the Phase IV commercial area, right behind Masoom's Pancake Lounge. Estate agents generally charge half or an entire month's rent from both you and the landlord for a fee. Be aware of this so there's not any surprises when you go to sign your lease.

Before starting your house hunt, go to a local bookstore and buy a map of the city. It can take a while to get oriented to Lahore, and you'll want to narrow your accommodation search down to two or three areas of the city that are convenient for work and children's schooling, if applicable.

Most places available will be separate upper portions of a house with the landlord living in the lower portion. You can find a stand-alone house for yourself, but you may find that lower portions usually include a lot of communal space like large living rooms and drawing rooms. Remember the fact that you need to use air conditioning at least six months out of the year. If you don't plan to put ACs in those three large drawing rooms, they won't be of much use to you. Pakistani houses usually have private bathrooms in each bedroom. Make sure to check the cleanliness of the bathrooms and see if they are equipped with Western toilets. Many houses do not have Western bathtubs, so if this is important to you be sure to check every bathroom.

A place with a separate gate and entrance will give you more privacy. Many foreigners have become frustrated sharing gates with their landlords. Some landlords may even be unwilling to give a key to the gate, and they will insist on using the chowkidar (gate man) instead. When the chowkidar takes a nap or disappears you will not be happy to jump the gate. We used to get very frustrated when we were trying to leave for work in the morning and had to rouse several servants in order to get the gate unlocked. A few times we were locked in and my ride to work drove away while I ran around the house trying to find a way to get out! Be sure to discuss these arrangements before taking a lease.

Take note of the neighborhood. Are there any wedding halls or mosques nearby? Wedding season runs parallel to the cool weather from November to March, and weddings can be quite noisy. They generally dance and sing all night long. If you're a light sleeper, be sure not to get a place near a wedding hall. Also, mosques' loudspeakers can be quite loud if projecting over a large area. I visited an expat's house once that was directly across from a mosque. When the call to prayer came, it was literally ear splitting due to the bad quality of the speakers on high volume. If I lived there, there would be no way I'd ever sleep through the night. Many times mosque leaders may hold all night rallies.

When you arrange your lease, you'll need the following:

- copy of your passport

- copy of employment letter

- enough to pay for 2 months of security (2 months rent, will be returned when you move out if landlord is honest)

- enough to pay 4 to 6 months rent in advance - landlords prefer 6 months, try to talk them down to 4 if you don't have enough cash for that

It's also good to keep about 2,000 to 5,000 rupees on you when you house hunt. When you make a verbal agreement to go through with the lease, landlords expect a "token" payment that will be deducted from the advance pay. Discuss the "token" payment with your real estate agent. If he is doing the negotiations, he will be the one giving the token payment. If you are doing them yourself, you should give the token payment in order to make sure the lease won't be given to another house hunter.