The easiest way to rent long-term in Medellín is to book one furnished month first, then sign an unfurnished lease in the neighborhood you liked. At Colombia Desk, we help foreigners relocate to Medellín and buy here, and we treat that first rented month as the cheapest research you will do before any bigger commitment.
An unfurnished one-bedroom costs about 2.2 million to 3.0 million Colombian pesos (COP) a month in Laureles, on 2026 figures from Colombia Move. In El Poblado the range is COP 3.5 million to 5.0 million.
At around COP 3,200 per US dollar in mid-October 2026, an unfurnished Laureles one-bedroom is roughly 690 to 940 US dollars (USD). Furnished units cost 30% to 50% more.
How to Rent Long-Term in Medellín as a Foreigner
Renting long-term in Medellín as a foreigner takes six steps, and the order matters because each one tells you something the next one needs.
- Book a furnished month of 30 days or more. A stay that long is an ordinary housing lease under Ley 820 de 2003, Colombia’s urban rental law, so you are a tenant rather than a hotel guest.
- Choose the neighborhood from that base. Walk your daily routes at 8 am and 10 pm before you rule an area in or out.
- Search the listing portals. Fincaraíz and Metrocuadrado both list long-term rentals with prices in pesos, and you can filter by neighborhood and furnished or unfurnished.
- Line up a guarantee. Agencies usually ask for a guarantor (fiador or codeudor) or a rental insurance policy. An agency that handles the insurance policy can add about 2.5% of the insured value, according to Metrocuadrado.
- Read the contract against the law. Check that it asks for no cash deposit, caps increases at inflation and states the administración fee.
- Check the estrato on the utility bill. Estratos 5 and 6, which cover most of El Poblado and much of Laureles, pay a 20% surcharge on utility tariffs.
A Colombian guarantor is hard to arrange in your first month. Ask each agency at the first viewing whether it accepts an insurance policy, and drop the listing if it does not.
What Long-Term Rentals in Medellín Cost
Long-term rents in Medellín range from about COP 1.7 million for an unfurnished one-bedroom in Envigado to over COP 7 million for a furnished one in El Poblado. These are asking prices, so treat the bottom of each range as your opening offer:
| Area | Unfurnished 1BR | Furnished 1BR | 2BR unfurnished |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Poblado | COP 3.5M to 5.0M | COP 4.5M to 7.0M+ | COP 5.0M+ |
| Laureles | COP 2.2M to 3.0M | 30% to 50% above unfurnished | COP 2.7M to 3.5M |
| Envigado | COP 1.7M to 2.5M | 30% to 50% above unfurnished | COP 2.3M to 3.5M |
| Numbeo city center (any 1BR) | COP 3.33M | Not split out | 3BR COP 5.97M |
| Numbeo outside center (any 1BR) | COP 1.99M | Not split out | 3BR COP 3.22M |
The area figures come from Colombia Move’s 2026 guide, which does not publish its data source. Cuantomecuesta, citing Fincaraíz and Metrocuadrado data from early 2026, gives similar ranges. It puts El Poblado at COP 3 million to 8 million, Laureles at COP 2 million to 4 million and Envigado at COP 1.5 million to 3.5 million.
Three costs sit outside the rent:
- Administración, the building’s fee, which Cuantomecuesta estimates at 15% to 20% of rent.
- Utilities, which Numbeo puts at COP 539,375 a month for an 85 m² apartment.
- Internet, at about COP 91,000 a month.
A worked example: an unfurnished Laureles one-bedroom at COP 2.5 million, with administración at 17% (COP 425,000), utilities and internet, comes to about COP 3.56 million a month. Our cost of living in Medellín guide adds food, transport and health cover to that figure.
Furnished or Unfurnished Rentals in Medellín
Furnished rentals in Medellín suit your first months, and unfurnished ones suit you once you plan to stay a year or more. The 30% to 50% premium for furniture buys the freedom to leave after a month or two.
| Factor | Furnished | Unfurnished |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly rent, Laureles 1BR | About COP 2.9M to 4.5M | COP 2.2M to 3.0M |
| Typical stay | One to six months | A year or more |
| Up-front cost | Suitcase only | Bed, fridge, washer and stove to buy |
| Guarantee | Set by the landlord or platform | Guarantor or rental insurance |
| Verdict | Best for the first months | Best once you commit to an area |
At the Laureles midpoints, furnished costs about COP 1.1 million a month more than unfurnished. Over a year that is about COP 13 million, money you could put toward furnishing an unfurnished apartment instead.
Choose furnished for longer if you are not yet sure you will stay a year, or if you might move to Bogotá. Our Medellín vs Bogotá guide helps with that decision before you buy a sofa.
Your Rights Under Colombia’s Rental Law
Colombia’s Ley 820 de 2003 sets firm limits that protect tenants in a long-term rental in Medellín. Four rules matter most when you read a lease:
- No cash deposit. Article 16 bans cash deposits and other real guarantees on urban housing, according to Notaría 19 de Bogotá’s summary of the law. Article 15 allows a guarantee for utility bills of up to two billing periods.
- One increase a year, capped at inflation. Article 20 allows a rise only after 12 months at the same rent, up to the previous year’s consumer price index (IPC). For 2026 that cap is 5.1%, per Portafolio.
- A ceiling on rent. Monthly rent may not exceed 1% of the property’s commercial value, as Infobae reports.
- Registered landlords. Anyone whose main business is renting out or brokering urban housing in a city of Medellín’s size must hold a matrícula de arrendador with the Alcaldía. Ask an agency for its matrícula number before you pay anything.
The 1% ceiling works as a quick check. El Poblado apartments asked about COP 8,022,078 per m² in early 2026 on Ciencuadras data.
At that price a 60 m² unit is worth roughly COP 481 million, so its legal rent ceiling is about COP 4.81 million. If an unfurnished quote is well above the ceiling for the apartment’s size, ask a Colombian lawyer to read the contract before you sign.
Our relocation concierge shortlists apartments in the neighborhood you choose, reads each lease with you for these four points and brings in a Colombian lawyer when a clause needs one.
Monthly Rentals Versus Short Stays on Platforms
A rental of 30 days or more is a normal lease, and anything shorter is a tourist rental with its own rules. Under Ley 2068 de 2020, stays under 30 days count as vivienda turística, and the host needs a Registro Nacional de Turismo (RNT), the national tourism registration. Inside a residential building, short stays also need approval in the building’s bylaws.
The Alcaldía de Medellín enforces those rules. Minuto30, reporting city figures, counted 408 inspections and 105 tourist homes suspended between 2024 and 2026. Booking 30 nights or more keeps you clear of that risk, because your stay is then an ordinary lease.
Rent Before You Buy in Medellín
Renting in Medellín for a few months is the cheapest test of an apartment purchase. A month in the building you are considering shows you the night noise, the water pressure and the walk to the metro. You learn all of that before you commit hundreds of millions of pesos.
Use the rental to answer three buying questions:
- Does the building allow short-term rentals in its bylaws, if you plan to rent the apartment out later?
- What is the building’s administración, and how has it changed?
- How long is the walk to Poblado, Aguacatala, Estadio or Envigado metro station?
When you are ready to buy, our guide to buying property in Medellín covers the purchase steps. Our guide to Medellín property management explains what it costs to have someone run a rental for you, about 8% to 10% of the rent plus value-added tax (VAT).
Who Should Not Rent Long-Term First
Renting first suits almost everyone moving to Medellín, with two exceptions:
- Investors who will never live in the apartment. If you are buying a rental property from abroad, a month of your own living there tells you less than the building’s occupancy and bylaws.
- People already sure of one building. If you know the building, the cost of a rented month buys little new information.
What Would Change Our Answer
Our furnished-first, unfurnished-later advice assumes the furnished premium stays near 30% to 50%. If Medellín’s review of its land-use plan restricts short stays in residential buildings, more furnished units could move to the long-term market and that premium could shrink. In that case, staying furnished for a full year would cost less than it does now.
Book one furnished month in the neighborhood you like best, then use the six steps above to sign your first long-term rental in Medellín.