SpareRoom Scraper

Pull flatshare and room-rental listings from SpareRoom across the UK and US — rent and deposit, move-in dates, room and property details, neighbourhood and map coordinates, amenities, advertiser profiles, and full photo galleries. Covers all three SpareRoom ad types: rooms for rent, room-wanted, and buddy-up. Built for renters, relocation teams, lettings agents, and property-market researchers who need structured SpareRoom data without copy-pasting listings one ad at a time.

Why This Scraper?

• All three SpareRoom ad types — rooms for rent (offered), room-wanted, and buddy-up, each with the right fields: property attributes for landlords' ads, seeker attributes for people-looking ads.
• Dual UK + US coverage in one actor — spareroom.co.uk and spareroom.com from a single run, with prices returned in the listing's own currency (GBP or USD) and a region selector for ambiguous locations.
• Just paste a postcode, ZIP, or city — start from a plain location like E1, SW1, 90210, or Los Angeles; no need to hand-build a search URL. Full SpareRoom search and listing URLs are accepted too.
• Five room-type filters — single, double, en-suite, studio, and whole-property, applied at the source so you only pay for the rooms you want.
• Rent banding and move-in date filters — set a minimum and maximum monthly rent (pcm) and an "available from" date to narrow to rooms that fit a real tenancy window.
• Full per-listing detail by default — every row comes with the complete description, deposit, amenities, move-in date, and tenant preferences, not just the search-card summary. No toggle to flip.
• Map-ready geocoordinates on every listing — exact latitude and longitude, plus neighbourhood, postcode/ZIP, and nearest-station walk times for mapping and commute analysis.
• Full photo galleries on demand — flip one switch to pull every gallery image per listing instead of just the cover photo.
• Advertiser and seeker intelligence — advertiser name, type (private / agent / live-in landlord) and verified badge on offered ads; gender-and-occupation seeker profiles and rooms-sought counts on room-wanted and buddy-up ads.
• Tenancy preference details — couples-OK, pets, smoking, DSS/benefits accepted, minimum term, and age preferences captured straight from each listing.

Use Cases

Renter & Flatmate Search

• Sweep every room in a postcode area or city under your monthly budget
• Filter to en-suite or studio rooms available from your move-in date
• Build a shortlist of verified advertisers before sending a single enquiry
• Compare cover photos and rent across neighbourhoods at a glance

Relocation Research

• Map available rooms by latitude/longitude around a new office or campus
• Compare typical rents across UK postcode areas or US cities before a move
• Surface rooms with short nearest-station walk times for an easy commute
• Pull US and UK markets side by side for cross-border relocation

Lettings & Property Market Research

• Track room supply and asking rents by area over time
• Benchmark rents by room type — single vs double vs en-suite vs studio
• Measure agent vs private-landlord share of listings in a market
• Monitor deposit levels and bills-included offers across a city

Lead Generation

• Build advertiser contact lists from offered ads in target areas
• Identify room-wanted and buddy-up seekers for matchmaking services
• Find live-in landlords and lettings agents actively posting rooms
• Spot newly posted and featured listings the moment they appear

Price & Demand Analysis

• Analyse rent distribution per area, room type, and rental period
• Compare advertised rents against deposit and bills-included terms
• Track how move-in dates cluster across a season
• Feed pricing dashboards with fresh per-listing rent data

Getting Started

Search by Location

The simplest run — a single UK postcode area, default filters:

{
    "searchUrls": ["E1"]
}

Filtered Search

A budget-bounded search for double or en-suite rooms with a move-in date:

{
    "searchUrls": ["SW1"],
    "adType": "offered",
    "roomTypes": ["double", "ensuite"],
    "rentMin": 800,
    "rentMax": 1500,
    "availableFrom": "2026-09-01",
    "maxResults": 200
}

Full Galleries, US Region, and Pasted URLs

A US search with full photo galleries plus a pasted SpareRoom listing URL:

{
    "searchUrls": [
        "Los Angeles",
        "https://www.spareroom.com/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=18234567"
    ],
    "region": "us",
    "includePhotos": true,
    "maxResults": 100
}

Input Reference

What to Scrape

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchUrls	string[]	["E1"]	SpareRoom search-result URLs, individual listing URLs, or plain locations. A location can be a UK postcode area (E1, SW1) or a US city or ZIP (Los Angeles, 90210). Full URLs take priority and ignore the filter fields below.
region	select	Auto-detect	Which SpareRoom site to use for a plain location: Auto-detect, United Kingdom, or United States. Ignored for full URLs.

Build a Search

These filters apply when you provide a plain location. They are ignored when you paste full SpareRoom URLs.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
adType	select	Rooms for rent (offered)	Which kind of ad to collect: Rooms for rent (offered), Room wanted, or Buddy up.
roomTypes	multi-select	[] (all)	Limit to these room types: Single, Double, En-suite, Studio, or Whole property. Leave empty for all types.

Price & Availability

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
rentMin	integer	—	Only include listings with monthly rent at or above this amount.
rentMax	integer	—	Only include listings with monthly rent at or below this amount.
availableFrom	string	—	Only include rooms available on or after this date, formatted YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-09-01).

Limits

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
maxResults	integer	100	Maximum listings to collect per URL or search. Set to 0 for unlimited. Results arrive in pages and the last page is always returned in full, so you may receive a few more than this number.
includePhotos	boolean	false	When on, collects the complete photo gallery for each listing. When off, you still get the cover photo and all other detail fields — only the extra gallery images are skipped.

Output

Every listing is one flat row, with the full per-listing detail — description, latitude/longitude, amenities, deposit, advertiser profile, move-in date, and tenant preferences — populated by default on every result. Turn on includePhotos to also include the complete photo gallery. The two ad types return materially different shapes — examples for each follow.

Rooms for Rent (offered)

{
    "id": "18234567",
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=18234567",
    "adType": "offered",
    "title": "Bright double room in Shoreditch flatshare",
    "description": "Spacious double room in a friendly 3-bed flat, two minutes from the station...",
    "status": "active",
    "isNew": true,
    "isFeatured": false,
    "rent": 1100,
    "rentPeriod": "per month",
    "currency": "GBP",
    "billsIncluded": true,
    "deposit": 1100,
    "availableFrom": "2026-09-01",
    "minTerm": "6 months",
    "propertyType": "Flat",
    "roomsInProperty": 3,
    "occupants": 2,
    "furnishings": "Furnished",
    "area": "Shoreditch",
    "postcode": "E1",
    "latitude": 51.5246,
    "longitude": -0.0786,
    "nearestStation": { "name": "Shoreditch High Street", "minutes": 3, "mode": "walk" },
    "amenities": { "Broadband": "Yes", "Living room": "Yes", "Parking": "No" },
    "couplesAllowed": false,
    "petsAllowed": false,
    "smokingAllowed": false,
    "genderPreference": "No preference",
    "advertiserName": "Sarah",
    "advertiserType": "Live-in landlord",
    "advertiserVerified": true,
    "coverImage": "https://photos.spareroom.co.uk/.../large/image1.jpg",
    "photoCount": 8,
    "photos": [{ "url": "https://photos.spareroom.co.uk/.../large/image1.jpg", "caption": null }],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-13T09:30:00Z"
}

Room Wanted / Buddy Up (seeker)

{
    "id": "9912345",
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatmate/flatmate_detail.pl?flatshare_id=9912345",
    "adType": "wanted",
    "title": "Young professional looking for a double room in East London",
    "rent": 900,
    "rentPeriod": "per month",
    "currency": "GBP",
    "area": "East London",
    "roomsSought": "Double",
    "roomsSoughtCount": 1,
    "seekerProfile": "Female, professional",
    "advertiserVerified": true,
    "coverImage": "https://photos.spareroom.co.uk/.../large/image1.jpg",
    "photoCount": 1,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-13T09:30:00Z"
}

Core Fields (all listings)

Field	Type	Description
id	string	SpareRoom advert ID
url	string	Canonical listing URL
adType	string	offered, wanted, or buddyup
title	string	Ad title
description	string	Full ad text (detailed listings)
status	string	Listing status
isNew	boolean	Newly posted flag
isFeatured	boolean	Promoted / bold ad flag
rent	number	Rent amount in the listing's currency
rentPeriod	string	per month or per week
currency	string	GBP or USD
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of data extraction

Pricing & Terms (offered)

Field	Type	Description
billsIncluded	boolean	Whether bills are included in the rent
deposit	number	Security deposit when listed
availableFrom	string	Move-in date (ISO YYYY-MM-DD)
minTerm	string	Minimum tenancy term
rooms	object[]	Per-room breakdown for multi-room ads (price, period, en-suite, currency)

Property & Location (offered)

Field	Type	Description
propertyType	string	Flat, house, etc.
roomsInProperty	integer	Total rooms in the property
occupants	integer	Current occupant count
furnishings	string	Furnished / unfurnished
area	string	Neighbourhood or area name
postcode	string	Postcode (UK) or ZIP (US)
latitude	number	Latitude (detailed listings)
longitude	number	Longitude (detailed listings)
nearestStation	object	{ name, minutes, mode } walk/transit to nearest station
amenities	object	Map of amenity flags (broadband, parking, living room, etc.)

Tenant Preferences (offered)

Field	Type	Description
couplesAllowed	boolean	Couples accepted
petsAllowed	boolean	Pets accepted
smokingAllowed	boolean	Smoking accepted
dssAllowed	boolean	DSS / benefits accepted (UK)
genderPreference	string	Preferred tenant gender
minAge / maxAge	integer	Age preference bounds

Advertiser & Photos

Field	Type	Description
advertiserName	string	Advertiser display name
advertiserType	string	private / agent / live-in landlord
advertiserVerified	boolean	Verified advertiser badge
coverImage	string	URL of the main listing photo
photoCount	integer	Number of photos on the listing
photos	object[]	Photo gallery: { url, caption } (cover only unless includePhotos is on)

Seeker Fields (wanted / buddy up)

Field	Type	Description
area	string	Example matching area the seeker is targeting
roomsSought	string	Type of room being sought
roomsSoughtCount	integer	Number of rooms being sought
seekerProfile	string	Seeker gender and occupation

Tips for Best Results

• Start with a small maxResults — run 25–50 first to confirm the area and filters return what you expect, then scale up.
• Full detail comes by default — description, deposit, amenities, exact latitude/longitude, advertiser, and tenant preferences are on every row. Turn on includePhotos only if you also need the complete photo gallery for each listing.
• Use a plain postcode area, not a wide region — E1 or SW1 scopes tightly to that area; a vague term returns a broader, less relevant set.
• Set the region explicitly for US ZIPs and city names — choose United States so a numeric ZIP or a US city name resolves to spareroom.com rather than being read as UK.
• Match adType to your goal — use offered for room supply and rents, wanted and buddy-up for demand-side and matchmaking research.
• Mix locations and URLs in one run — combine several postcode areas, cities, and pasted listing URLs in a single searchUrls list to gather everything at once.
• Filter rent at the source — set rentMin/rentMax rather than collecting everything and filtering later, so every result already fits your budget band.

Pricing

From $0.85 per 1,000 results — undercuts the typical SpareRoom data tool while covering both UK and US in one run. Bronze, Silver, and Gold subscribers pay progressively less; the table below shows total cost at each discount tier.

Results	No discount	Bronze	Silver	Gold
100	$0.10	$0.095	$0.09	$0.085
1,000	$1.00	$0.95	$0.90	$0.85
10,000	$10.00	$9.50	$9.00	$8.50
100,000	$100.00	$95.00	$90.00	$85.00

A "result" is one listing row in your output dataset. No compute or time-based charges — you pay per result, plus a small fixed per-run start fee.

Integrations

Export data in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS. Connect to 1,500+ apps via:

• Zapier / Make / n8n — Workflow automation
• Google Sheets — Direct spreadsheet export
• Slack / Email — Notifications on new results
• Webhooks — Trigger custom APIs on run completion
• Apify API — Full programmatic access

Legal & Ethical Use

This actor is designed for legitimate room-rental research, relocation planning, and market analysis. You are responsible for complying with applicable laws and SpareRoom's Terms of Service. Do not use extracted data for spam, harassment, or any unlawful purpose, and handle any personal data (such as advertiser names) responsibly and in line with privacy regulations.