If you’ve just moved to London, you might be needing to furnish your new place on the cheap. After all, the cost of renting in London is sky high. It’s important to save money where possible- especially when you’ve already put down a deposit, your first month of rent, and any associated agency fees. A great way to spend less on furniture, is to spend nothing at all! So let’s take a look at how to find free furniture in London.
Finding Free Furniture in London
Surprisingly, you can find free furniture in London more often than you might think. People move in and out of London every day- with as many people coming to live in the city as there are people leaving. Often, you’ll find that residents want to get rid of their furniture as soon as possible so that they can move out on a set date and avoid additional charges from their landlord.
Landlords will often charge tenants for any furniture which is left over at the end of their tenancy, which means that tenants are always keen to get rid of furniture quickly if they cannot take it with them to their next residence. Due to the transient nature of living in London, a lot of furniture is barely used before it is passed on. You can often get great quality pieces of furniture, totally free of charge.
Where can you get free furniture in London?
There are lots of places where you can find free furniture in London. From your local community, dedicated free furniture websites and of course online marketplaces. It’s not too hard to find free furniture in London if you know where to look- and we’ve got all the insider tips here to share with you.
Find Free Furniture Online
When searching for free furniture in London, you’ll want to go online to get the best choice. There might be some obstacles such as delivery costs, but with a few tricks you’ll be able to source local free furniture online, and may even swerve the delivery charges all together.
1. Facebook Marketplace
One of the best places to find free furniture in London is on Facebook Marketplace. The reason for this is that the items will be available in your local area and the items will be relatively easy to collect.
Many of us Londoners don’t have our own forms of transport, so you might have to use public transport (we’ve all seen people carrying chairs on trains!). Or, you may have to use an Uber service or hire a car in order to collect the item of furniture, depending on how large it is.
If you set the radius in Facebook Marketplace to just a couple of miles from your home, you can be sure that any transport or taxi fares will be kept to a minimum.
2. eBay
eBay is a great place to find cheap second hand furniture, but did you also know that you can also find free furniture? The eBay Marketplace is brilliant because there are so many listings available. It’s a good chance to see whether there are some suitable furniture items a little further afield.
Most free furniture will be listed as collection only. You can filter the search results by location so that you can see the ‘collection only’ items available in your local area.
To find free furniture available on eBay, you can sort the items by lowest price, and then see what is available nearby. The wider your search radius, the more choice you are likely to find, however, do keep in mind that you will need to arrange transport for those items a little further afield.
3. Gumtree
Gumtree is somewhat of an online marketplace veteran, where household and furniture items are one of the most popular categories on the site. Not only can you pick up cheap items of furniture on Gumtree, but you can also find free furniture on the site too.
It’s totally free for sellers to list their items on Gumtree, which makes it a great place for people to list and get rid of their unwanted items without any hassle for themselves.
You can again set your search radius depending on your location and see what is available for free. There is an actual Freebies section of Gumtree, which is totally dedicated to free listings!
And if you’re interested in selling on Gumtree yourself? Check out our guide to selling on Gumtree with success.
4. Shpock
Shpock is another online marketplace where you can search for free used furniture using your location. Most of the free items on Shpock are likely to be collection only, so you can set the search area radius based on how far you are willing to travel for free items of furniture.
Shpock is also a great place to list unwanted items of furniture for free if you are unsure of how to get rid of it. In the past at Thrifty Londoner HQ we’ve got rid of a lamp that no longer worked and a broken suitcase by listing them for free (with faults listed in the description of course!).
5. Preloved
Preloved is a website where you can list items for free, and buy used items too. However, they also have a free section called freeloved, where members can select free items of furniture (you’ll just have to pay their £5 annual fee). Check out their website and listings near you. With Londoners moving in and out of the city all the time, you’ll no doubt find tons of free furniture listings here.
6. Freegle
Have you ever heard of Freegle before? It’s an online organisation that describe themselves as like ‘online dating, but for stuff.’ Create a free listing for what you’re looking for, and Freegle will try and match you with someone in your local area who is giving away something similar.
7. Trash Nothing
Trash Nothing is another website that has specific local groups for giving away free stuff. The London group has over 29,000 members, and counting! Check it out to see if they have the piece of furniture that you’re looking for. Currently the London group has a multitude of free furniture items listed- from a TV to a desk.
Free Furniture in your Community
Your local community is one of the best places to find free furniture in London. One of the reasons for this is that you might be able to find free furniture just a few streets away from your home. It saves the need for any logistics arrangements, and all you might need is a friend or two to help you carry the item.
8. Facebook Groups
Local London Facebook groups are one of the best places to go to find free used furniture. Search for local ‘buy nothing’ or ‘waste saver’ groups. Users will often list items which are free for collection. If you live in an apartment complex, or on a certain development or estate, you may find you have a local group where people will advertise their listings.
These local groups are a great way to create a circular economy in your community. Once you’ve received something for free you can pay it forward and list it for free once you have finished with it.
And if you can’t find a local group? Why not start one?
9. Roadside Furniture
In London, sometimes people will leave items out on the curb, which are free to take away for passers-by. You may also find items of furniture next to recycling bins or communal garden areas. This is discouraged by most councils as items such as sofas and mattresses can soon become soaked in rainy weather. When furniture is damaged, people are unlikely to pick it up.
However, if you get lucky, you might find an item in brilliant condition, which is free to a good home. Great options include tables, chairs and other wooden furniture which are unlikely to have staining, water damage, or bed bugs.
10. Nextdoor App
Nextdoor is an app for neighbourhoods where neighbours can buy, sell, borrow and swap items. That includes giving away furniture for free! Simply enter your postcode and your address to join your neighbourhood in the app.
11. Freecycle
You may have already heard of Freecycle, the charity dedicated to reusing and recycling unwanted belongings. One of the most popular categories on Freecycle is furniture. You’ll find everything from beds, sofas, tables and chairs.
As the name suggests, everything listed on Freecycle is totally free of charge. Check out your local area for listings and see what is available nearby.
12. Take Part in Swaps
You could also arrange a swap where you swap one item of furniture for another. Swaprs is a particularly good new website which facilitates swapping. Everyone wins when you both get something totally free!
13. Olio
Olio is a community app where you and your neighbours can list anything and everything you’d to get rid of- for free! Find tons of free furniture- from cribs, to chairs, to headboards. You can also created ‘wanted’ listings, and if one of your neighbours has a matching item that they’re looking to get rid of, they can get in touch with you and you can then go and collect it from them.
14. Local Charities
The Salvation Army will offer help to those who are under financial strain. Some local Salvation Army organisations will offer free furniture vouchers to those who are in need. Contact your local organisation to see if this is something that is offered in your area.
15. Furniture Charity Shops
If you have any charity shops in your local area which specialise in furniture, they are likely to have some donations which are not fit for sale. This might be because an item is damaged or broken. In this case, they will not be able to sell the item. Head into your local furniture charity shops to see if they have any broken furniture which they want to get rid of, and leave your number in case any other items come into the store.
If you’re handy with a screwdriver or a paint brush, you might well be able to restore a piece of broken furniture to its former glory- for free!
Top tips when searching for free furniture:
- Check for functionality. Check whether you need to do any repairs and how much this might cost you.
- Make sure that you are able to transport the item back to your home. No one likes a time waster. Especially if the person who listed the item is giving away something for free.
- Check for stains, scratches and permanent marks.
- Measure your home before committing to an item.
- Bring a tape measure with you.
- Repay the favour. In the future, if you have some furniture you want to get rid of, give it away to someone else for free!