# SpareRoom UK Room Listings Scraper (`parseforge/spareroom-uk-scraper`) Actor

Track SpareRoom UK flatshares by town, city, or postcode. Returns title, weekly rent, location, postcode, room type, availability date, and listing URL across single, double, twin, studio, and en suite rooms. Useful for rental research, relocation, and market analysis.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/spareroom-uk-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Automation, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.50 / 1,000 results

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

![ParseForge Banner](https://github.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/blob/ad35ccc13ddd068b9d6cba33f323962e39aed5b2/banner.jpg?raw=true)

## 🛏️ SpareRoom UK Scraper

> 🚀 **Export SpareRoom UK roommate and rental listings in seconds. Weekly rent, deposit, postcode, room type, household details, and listing URL in one structured dataset.**

> 🕒 **Last updated:** 2026-06-05 · **📊 14 fields** per listing · UK-wide coverage · Rooms, studios, 1-bed flats · Live SpareRoom search results

The SpareRoom UK Scraper turns any [spareroom.co.uk](https://www.spareroom.co.uk) flatshare search into a clean dataset. Give it a town, city, or postcode, pick a room type, optionally clamp weekly rent, and the actor walks every search-result page and flattens each listing into one row.

| 🎯 Target Audience | 💡 Primary Use Cases |
|---|---|
| 🏠 Renters and students | Compare rooms across multiple cities at once |
| 🧑‍💼 Letting agents | Monitor the local roommate market |
| 📊 Real-estate analysts | Track weekly rent trends per postcode |
| 📰 Journalists | Quantify the UK rental squeeze |
| 👩‍💻 Developers | Mirror SpareRoom listings into your app |
| 🤖 Market researchers | Build training data for rental-price models |

### 📋 What the SpareRoom UK Scraper does

- Builds the SpareRoom flatshare search URL from your location, room type, and rent bounds.
- Walks every result page until your `maxItems` cap or the end of results.
- Parses each listing card for title, weekly rent, location, room type, and listing URL.
- Detects the postcode from the location text when present.
- Surfaces upstream errors as a clean record rather than crashing.
- Emits records ready for download in tabular and structured formats.

> 💡 **Why it matters:** SpareRoom is the dominant UK roommate marketplace, but its data is locked behind a paginated HTML search. This actor flattens the catalog into one tidy dataset.

### 🎬 Full Demo

_🚧 Coming soon._

### ⚙️ Input

<table>
<tr><th>Field</th><th>Type</th><th>Required</th><th>Description</th></tr>
<tr><td><code>searchLocation</code></td><td>string</td><td>No</td><td>City, town, or postcode. Prefill <code>London</code>.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>maxItems</code></td><td>integer</td><td>No</td><td>Free 10, paid up to 1,000,000.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>roomType</code></td><td>enum</td><td>No</td><td>any, single, double, twin, studio, 1bed, ensuite.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>minRent</code></td><td>integer</td><td>No</td><td>Min weekly rent in GBP.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>maxRent</code></td><td>integer</td><td>No</td><td>Max weekly rent in GBP.</td></tr>
</table>

**Example 1, London double rooms under £300pw:**
```json
{ "searchLocation": "London", "roomType": "double", "maxRent": 300, "maxItems": 100 }
````

**Example 2, Manchester en-suite rooms:**

```json
{ "searchLocation": "Manchester", "roomType": "ensuite", "maxItems": 50 }
```

> ⚠️ **Good to Know:** SpareRoom returns the strongest matches first. If a search returns fewer pages than you expect, broaden the area or relax the rent filter.

### 📊 Output

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 🏠 `title` | string | Listing headline. |
| 💷 `weekly_rent` | number | Weekly rent in GBP. |
| 💰 `deposit` | number | Deposit if shown on the card. |
| 📍 `location` | string | Area or neighborhood text. |
| 📮 `postcode` | string | UK postcode if detected. |
| 🛏️ `room_type` | string | Single, double, en-suite, studio, etc. |
| 📅 `available_from` | string | Availability date as listed. |
| ⏳ `min_term` | string | Minimum tenancy term. |
| 👥 `household_size` | string | People already living there. |
| ⚧️ `gender_pref` | string | Gender preference of the household. |
| 🚬 `smoker_pref` | string | Smoker preference. |
| 🔗 `url` | string | Listing URL on spareroom.co.uk. |
| 🕒 `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp. |
| ❌ `error` | string | Set if upstream errored. |

**Sample record:**

```json
{
  "title": "Double room in Camden",
  "weekly_rent": 240,
  "deposit": null,
  "location": "Camden Town, NW1",
  "postcode": "NW1",
  "room_type": "Double room",
  "available_from": "Now",
  "min_term": null,
  "household_size": null,
  "gender_pref": null,
  "smoker_pref": null,
  "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=12345678",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-05T13:00:00.000Z",
  "error": null
}
```

### ✨ Why choose this Actor

| 🇬🇧 | UK-wide coverage, any town or postcode. |
| 🧹 | Clean numeric rent column ready for analysis. |
| 🛟 | Returns a clean `error` record on upstream blocks rather than crashing. |
| 🔢 | Postcode auto-detected from the location string. |
| 🏘️ | Filter by room type and rent bounds. |
| 💾 | Push to dataset, then download in tabular or structured formats. |

### 📈 How it compares to alternatives

| Approach | Setup time | Pagination | Numeric rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual copy-paste | Hours per city | Manual | Manual |
| Roll your own scraper | 4 hours plus | DIY | DIY |
| **This Actor** | 5 sec, no install | Automatic | Yes |

### 🚀 How to use

1. Click **Try for free**.
2. Type a city, town, or postcode.
3. Optionally pick a room type and rent bounds.
4. Click **Start**. The dataset is ready in seconds.

### 💼 Business use cases

**🏘️ Letting agent intel.** Track competitor inventory in your operating area daily.

**📊 Market reports.** Build rent-by-postcode datasets for client briefings.

**📰 Newsroom analytics.** Quantify how the rental squeeze shifts week to week.

**🤖 ML training.** Train rent-prediction models on real listing data.

### 🔌 Automating SpareRoom UK Scraper

- **Make and Zapier**, push new listings to Slack, Airtable, or Google Sheets.
- **Cron schedule**, native Apify scheduler runs the search every morning.
- **Webhooks**, get a POST when the run finishes.
- **Pipe to BigQuery, Snowflake, or Postgres**, native Apify integrations move datasets straight into your warehouse.

### 🌟 Beyond business use cases

**🎓 Education.** Use real housing-market data in coursework.

**🧪 Personal research.** Compare neighborhoods before moving.

**🤝 Non-profit.** Map affordability gaps across UK cities.

**🧰 Tinkering.** Prototype a rental aggregator without writing a scraper.

### 🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Drop this README into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI assistant and ask it to map your specific workflow to the actor's inputs.

### ❓ Frequently Asked Questions

**❓ Is this scraping or API?** HTML scraping of the public SpareRoom search.

**❓ How fresh is the data?** As fresh as SpareRoom serves it. The actor runs the live search.

**❓ Are rents normalised?** Yes, rent is parsed as a number in GBP, weekly basis.

**❓ Can I search by postcode?** Yes, full or partial UK postcode works.

**❓ Does it follow individual listing pages?** Not by default. Card-level fields only for speed.

**❓ How are errors handled?** Upstream errors become a clean record with `error` populated.

**❓ Will the schema change?** Card-level fields are stable. New fields are added as the site exposes them.

**❓ Can I schedule runs?** Yes, use Apify's native scheduler or Make and Zapier.

**❓ What download formats are supported?** All formats Apify dataset export supports.

**❓ Is residential proxying used?** Yes, UK residential proxies are used by default for clean access.

### 🔌 Integrate with any app

Apify ships native integrations with Make, Zapier, Slack, Discord, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Gmail, Airbyte, Keboola, Telegram, GitHub, and any REST API or webhook endpoint.

### 🔗 Recommended Actors

| Actor | What it does |
|---|---|
| [ParseForge HUD Fair Market Rents Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge) | US federal rent ceilings by county and ZIP. |
| [ParseForge OurAirports Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/ourairports-scraper) | Global airport database. |
| [ParseForge Alpha Vantage Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge) | Public market data, FX, crypto, indicators. |
| [ParseForge Boats.com Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge) | Boat listings from boats.com. |

> 💡 **Pro Tip:** browse the complete [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge) for 900+ production-grade scrapers across business intelligence, real estate, e-commerce, sports, finance, and public records.

***

**Disclaimer:** This actor scrapes only publicly available data. ParseForge is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the third-party services referenced. Users are responsible for complying with the target site's terms of service and applicable law. [Create a free account w/ $5 credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).

# Actor input Schema

## `searchLocation` (type: `string`):

Town, city, or postcode to search (e.g. London, Manchester, EC1A).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users up to 1,000,000.

## `roomType` (type: `string`):

Type of room or property to search for.

## `minRent` (type: `integer`):

Lower bound on weekly rent in GBP.

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

Upper bound on weekly rent in GBP.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchLocation": "London",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "roomType": "any"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "searchLocation": "London",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/spareroom-uk-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 = {
    "searchLocation": "London",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

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

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchLocation": "London",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/spareroom-uk-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/spareroom-uk-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "SpareRoom UK Room Listings Scraper",
        "description": "Track SpareRoom UK flatshares by town, city, or postcode. Returns title, weekly rent, location, postcode, room type, availability date, and listing URL across single, double, twin, studio, and en suite rooms. Useful for rental research, relocation, and market analysis.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "LxmKG5EYDFh0zOzb4"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/parseforge~spareroom-uk-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-parseforge-spareroom-uk-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/parseforge~spareroom-uk-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-parseforge-spareroom-uk-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/parseforge~spareroom-uk-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-parseforge-spareroom-uk-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "searchLocation": {
                        "title": "Search location",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Town, city, or postcode to search (e.g. London, Manchester, EC1A)."
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max Items",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 1000000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Free users limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users up to 1,000,000."
                    },
                    "roomType": {
                        "title": "Room type",
                        "enum": [
                            "any",
                            "single",
                            "double",
                            "twin",
                            "studio",
                            "1bed",
                            "ensuite"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Type of room or property to search for.",
                        "default": "any"
                    },
                    "minRent": {
                        "title": "Minimum weekly rent",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Lower bound on weekly rent in GBP."
                    },
                    "maxRent": {
                        "title": "Maximum weekly rent",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Upper bound on weekly rent in GBP."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```