# SpareRoom.co.uk Scraper — UK Room Rental Listings (`studio-amba/spareroom-scraper`) Actor

Scrape room rental and flatshare listings from SpareRoom.co.uk — the UK's largest room-rental site. Get rent, location, availability, and deposit details.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/studio-amba/spareroom-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Studio Amba](https://apify.com/studio-amba) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 1,000 result scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## SpareRoom.co.uk Scraper

Extract room-rental and flatshare listings from spareroom.co.uk, the UK's largest room-rental site. Gets rent, room type, neighbourhood, availability date, deposit, and bills-included status for every listing — a niche SpareRoom covers that whole-property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla don't.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `location` | string | UK area, city, or postcode to search (e.g. `"London"`, `"Manchester"`). Defaults to `"London"` |
| `maxRent` | integer | Optional upper limit on monthly rent (GBP) |
| `maxResults` | integer | Maximum number of listings to return (default: 100) |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Proxy settings — the site has no anti-bot protection, so the default automatic proxy works fine |

### Output

| Field | Type | Example |
|-------|------|---------|
| `roomTitle` | string | `"Room for rent in lovely 2-bed Brockley flat"` |
| `rentPerMonth` | number | `950` |
| `rentPeriod` | string | `"pcm"` |
| `rentText` | string | `"£950 pcm"` |
| `currency` | string | `"GBP"` |
| `roomType` | string | `"double"` |
| `propertyType` | string | `"flat"` |
| `neighbourhood` | string | `"Brockley"` |
| `postcode` | string | `"SE4"` |
| `availableFrom` | string | `"1st Sep 2026"` |
| `depositAmount` | number | null | `1050` |
| `billsIncluded` | boolean | null | `false` |
| `advertiserRole` | string | `"current flatmate"` |
| `roomsInProperty` | number | null | `2` |
| `latitude` | number | null | `51.4597446` |
| `longitude` | number | null | `-0.029919` |
| `imageUrl` | string | Primary listing photo URL |
| `daysOld` | number | null | `0` |
| `isNew` | boolean | `false` |
| `roomDescription` | string | Room/listing description text |
| `url` | string | Listing detail page URL |
| `listingId` | string | `"18341577"` |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp |

### Real output example

```json
{
  "roomTitle": "Room for rent in lovely 2-bed Brockley flat",
  "rentPerMonth": 950,
  "rentPeriod": "pcm",
  "rentText": "£950 pcm",
  "currency": "GBP",
  "roomType": "double",
  "propertyType": "flat",
  "neighbourhood": "Brockley",
  "postcode": "SE4",
  "availableFrom": "1st Sep 2026",
  "depositAmount": 1050,
  "billsIncluded": false,
  "advertiserRole": "current flatmate",
  "roomsInProperty": 2,
  "latitude": 51.4597446,
  "longitude": -0.029919,
  "imageUrl": "https://photos2.spareroom.co.uk/images/flatshare/listings/square/10/07/100797576.jpg",
  "daysOld": 0,
  "isNew": false,
  "roomDescription": "Rooms for rent in Brockley, SE4: About the room myself The Room A fairly decent size (2.65m x 3.65m) large enough for a double bed, a desk, and storage...",
  "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=18341577",
  "listingId": "18341577",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-08T09:52:27.062Z"
}
```

### How to scrape SpareRoom.co.uk data

1. Go to this actor's page on the [Apify Store](https://apify.com/store).
2. Click **Try for free** to open it in Apify Console.
3. Enter a UK location (e.g. `"London"`, `"Manchester"`), optionally set a max rent, and adjust the max results and proxy settings if needed.
4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish.
5. Download your data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect it to your workflow via API.

You can also schedule regular runs, set up webhooks for real-time notifications, or integrate the results directly into your application using the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api).

### Notes

- Listing summaries come from structured `data-listing-*` attributes on each search result card — no separate hidden API needed, and more reliable than parsing rendered card text.
- Detail pages expose availability, deposit, and bills-included status in clean labelled `<dl>` blocks, plus coordinates in an inline JS config block.
- Pagination increments by 10 results per page — SpareRoom always returns 10 organic + up to 1 featured listing per page regardless of the requested page size.
- Expired or already-let listings are detected and skipped during the detail-page crawl.
- Weekly rents (`pw`) are normalized to a monthly figure (`rentPerMonth`, ×4.333) alongside the original `rentText`/`rentPeriod` for anyone who wants the raw value.
- `billsIncluded` is nullable — never coerced to `false` when the source doesn't state it.

### Cost and performance

The cost depends on the number of results requested. As a rough guide:

- Search + detail-page crawl: roughly 2 HTTP requests per result (1 list-page slice + 1 detail page)
- No JavaScript rendering needed — this is a plain Cheerio (HTTP) crawl, so it's fast and cheap compared to browser-based scrapers

The actual cost depends on your Apify subscription plan and this actor's pay-per-result pricing. Check the actor's pricing tab and the [Apify pricing page](https://apify.com/pricing) for details.

Note: usage cost only settles once a run reports **SUCCEEDED** — reading the dataset mid-run will undercount what you'll actually be charged.

### Tips and tricks

- **Start small**: test with `maxResults: 10` before running large scrapes.
- **Filter by rent**: set `maxRent` to skip listings above your budget and reduce noise.
- **Schedule runs**: set up recurring runs to keep your data fresh — SpareRoom listings turn over quickly.
- **Integrate via API**: use the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api) or [client libraries](https://docs.apify.com/api/client) to fetch results programmatically.
- **No login required**: this actor scrapes publicly available data without needing an account.

### Limitations

- Data is scraped from the public website and may change without notice.
- Some fields (deposit, bills-included, current household details) depend on what the poster filled in and may be blank for some listings.
- `location` uses SpareRoom's free-text area search, which works well for cities and named areas; postcode-district search is not covered.
- Respect the website's terms of service and use responsibly.

### Related Scrapers

SpareRoom covers room-rental and flatshare listings — a different niche from whole-property portals. Build a complete view of the UK property market with these sibling scrapers from Studio AMBA:

- **[Rightmove Scraper](https://apify.com/studio-amba/rightmove-scraper)** — UK properties for sale and to rent, the country's largest property portal.
- **[Zoopla Scraper](https://apify.com/studio-amba/zoopla-scraper)** — UK properties for sale and to rent, Rightmove's biggest competitor.
- **[OnTheMarket Scraper](https://apify.com/studio-amba/onthemarket-scraper)** — UK properties for sale and to rent from estate agents.

### FAQ

**Is it legal to scrape SpareRoom.co.uk?**
Web scraping of publicly available data is generally permitted. This actor only accesses information that is publicly visible to any website visitor. Always review the website's terms of service before scraping.

**How often should I run this scraper?**
Room listings turn over quickly — daily runs are common for anyone tracking availability or rent trends. Set up a [schedule](https://docs.apify.com/schedules) in Apify Console to automate this.

**Can I export the data to Google Sheets or Excel?**
Yes. After each run, you can download results in CSV, JSON, or Excel format directly from Apify Console. You can also connect results to Google Sheets using Apify integrations.

**What if the scraper stops working?**
Websites change their structure occasionally. If you notice issues, please open an issue on the actor's page. We actively maintain this scraper and fix issues promptly.

# Actor input Schema

## `location` (type: `string`):

UK area, city, or postcode to search (e.g. 'London', 'Manchester', 'Leeds'). Defaults to London if left empty.

## `maxRent` (type: `integer`):

Optional upper limit on monthly rent (GBP). Leave empty for no limit.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of room listings to return.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. SpareRoom.co.uk has no anti-bot protection so the default automatic proxy pool works fine.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "location": "London",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "location": "London",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("studio-amba/spareroom-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "location": "London",
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("studio-amba/spareroom-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "location": "London",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call studio-amba/spareroom-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,studio-amba/spareroom-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/6EudQHQdcUwioFSFO/builds/rDyYXqycOwtD0S1Zs/openapi.json