For Rent
Find and offer property for rent in Panama.
Most of what is let in Panama falls between two extremes: an apartment in a tower in Bella Vista or San Francisco, with a guard downstairs and a generator in the basement, and the annex, a self-contained unit with its own door at the back of a family home, common in David and the towns of the interior. Brand-new towers taking their first tenants sit alongside older buildings and houses that have been let many times over. Furnished rooms suit students and people working away from home, while shops, offices and warehouse units are let for business. Landlords and agents post the unit, and you contact them directly to arrange a viewing.
Apartments, houses, rooms and annexes to rent:
in the capital most long leases are apartments in towers, and outside it they are houses with a patio and a gate. Between the two sits the annex, a unit with a kitchenette, a bathroom and its own entrance built onto the side or back of a family house, which lets for far less than a flat and turns up all over David and the interior. A furnished room in a shared house is the cheapest roof of all and what students near the university campuses look for. Shops, offices and warehouse units for a workshop or storage are let alongside the homes, and lets by the night or the week have their own branch under short-term and vacation rentals. If you would rather own than pay every month, the same kinds of property are listed under property for sale.
An annex, a flat or a house, judged by what you pay on top:
the rent is rarely what stretches a monthly budget. An annex or a rented room often shares the house’s electricity meter, so ask whether the power is split, capped or metered separately before you agree to anything, because air conditioning running through the night is the heaviest bill in most Panamanian homes. A tower usually brings a guard, a generator and a lift; a house brings a yard, room for the car and nobody at the gate. For a shop or a warehouse unit, ask what use the landlord accepts, how loading works and whether the space has its own water and power connection.
Rent in the capital against rent in Chiriquí:
a one-bedroom flat in central areas such as Bella Vista or El Cangrejo asks around $1,000 to $1,600 a month, while one- and two-bedroom flats in David let for about $300 to $550. What separates the two figures is mostly the building: towers with a pool, guards and a generator against walk-ups and houses where the tenant pays for little beyond the roof. Leases normally run for a year, and the usual opening payment is one month as deposit plus the first month in advance, so plan on twice the rent at signing.
A rental flat or annex inspected before you sign:
switch on every air conditioner and leave it running while you look round; a split unit that drips, rattles or smells musty has gone a long time without a service. Open the hot tap, since plenty of flats have a small electric heater or none at all, and check whether the stove runs on a gas cylinder and where it stands. Find the washer connection, try the locks and the window bars, and listen for a building site or a bar next door. Before any money changes hands, walk through with the landlord, photograph every wall, appliance and mark, and attach that inventory to the contract: it is what settles the deposit when you move out. Ask, too, whether you are dealing with the owner or with an agent acting for them.
Letting your apartment, house or annex:
put the rent, the move-in date and the minimum lease in the opening lines. Say what you will ask a tenant for, whether an employment letter, a Social Security contribution record, bank references or a guarantor, so that people who cannot provide it do not book a viewing. Photograph the unit itself rather than the tower’s lobby, with the air conditioners, the kitchen and the bathroom in frame. Someone coming down from Boquete to see an annex in David wants to know before setting off whether it has its own meter and its own entrance, so put both in the title.