How it works
A spare room, and somebody who needs it
RoomRent is for rooms in homes people actually live in. Not apartments, not investment lets. A homeowner with a room going spare, and a student, a nurse or somebody starting a job who needs one. Free to look, free to list for the first week, and no agency fee at either end.
Letting a room
- 1
Put the room up
Photos, the rent, what is included and which nights. Five minutes if you have the photos ready. We ask for a mobile number so we know you are real, and it is never shown on the listing.
- 2
It goes live for seven days, free
No card, no trial that turns into a bill. The room shows on the county page, the town page and the search, and on a map with the pin nudged off your front door.
- 3
People message you here
Enquiries land in your inbox on the site. You reply, you ask what you want to ask, and you hand over your number when you are ready to. Nothing about you is public until you make it so.
- 4
Keep it up or let it lapse
A day before the week runs out we tell you. Take another free week if it is your first, move to a paid plan, or do nothing and the room comes down on its own.
Finding a room
- 1
Search where you need to be
By county, by town, or by what matters to you. Bills included, ensuite, Monday to Friday, suits students. Every one of the 26 counties has its own page, and 178 towns do too.
- 2
Save the ones worth a second look
The heart on any room keeps it in your dashboard, on whatever you next log in from. Save the search as well and we will email you when something matching it goes up.
- 3
Message the homeowner
Free, and you do not hand over your phone number to do it. Ask about the bills, the other people in the house, and whether the room is free over the summer.
- 4
Go and see it
Never take a room you have not stood in, and never send money before you have. Anyone asking for a deposit before a viewing is not letting you a room.
What we do differently
Your number stays yours
Phone numbers are never published and never sold. You give yours to the person you choose, at the point you choose.
Every county, not just Dublin
All 26 counties and 178 towns have a page of their own. A room in Ballina is as findable here as a room in Rathmines.
No agency fee at either end
Homeowners pay for the listing after the free week. Seekers pay nothing at all.
Maps that do not give away the house
Rooms show on a map, but the pin is deliberately offset. People can see the area without seeing your door.
Built for the €14,000 relief
Most of our homeowners are letting one room in their own home. The calculator, the guides and the plans are all shaped around that, not around portfolio landlords.
Listings that come down on their own
Rooms expire rather than sitting there let. Fewer dead listings means fewer wasted messages on both sides.
What it costs
Looking is free and always will be. Listing is free for the first seven days, then a plan runs for a set number of days and stops. Nothing renews without you asking it to.
Common questions
What does it cost to list a room?
Nothing for the first seven days, and no card is needed to start. After that a plan runs for as long as it says and then stops. There is no subscription and nothing renews on you.
What does it cost to look for a room?
Nothing, ever. Searching, saving rooms, saving searches and messaging a homeowner are all free for the person looking. We do not charge seekers and we do not charge an agency fee.
Will my phone number be on my listing?
No. Your number is never shown on a listing or handed out. People message you through the site, and you decide who gets your number and when.
Do I need to register with the RTB?
Not for a room in the home you live in. That arrangement is a licence rather than a tenancy, so the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply and there is nothing to register. Letting a whole property is a different matter.
How long does a listing stay up?
Seven days on the free week, ninety days or a hundred and eighty on the paid plans. We warn you a day before it comes down, so nothing disappears without notice.
Worth reading next: staying safe on both sides, how to write the listing, or the €14,000 relief.