What is a mutual exchange and how do I register? (swapping your home)

A mutual exchange is where two or more tenants “swap” their home. Customers can apply to exchange with a tenant of a registered housing association, local authority, or a charitable housing trust.

A mutual exchange is a good way for you to find a more suitable home. It can open up many more opportunities and can give you the chance to move to a new area of the country.

Can anyone swap their home?

If you have assured tenancy, (excluding market rent tenancies), you are eligible to apply to swap your home. Your tenancy agreement will confirm what type of tenancy you hold with us so make sure you check this first.

If you have another tenancy type, such as an assured shorthold, a licence agreement or you are living in temporary accommodation, you are not eligible for mutual exchange and cannot swap your home.

Interested? Here’s what you need to do next…

You can advertise your wish to mutual exchange almost anywhere, but we recommend you use a site called HomeSwapper.

If you live in Derbyshire, then you can also now sign up for another home swapping service called House Exchange. We’re currently trialling House Exchange which is why it’s only available to customers living in Derbyshire at the moment. We’ll be sure to update you if we’re able to roll this out to all customers!

They both help you to search, find matches and contact other council or housing association residents who want to swap their homes.

As your landlord, we do have to validate HomeSwapper and House Exchange applications and make all the necessary tenancy checks before accepting or rejecting any requests. We usually complete this in five working days. Keep checking your Homeswapper and House Exchange account to see if it has been verified as this is where you will be notified.

There are several other websites available you can use, but you need to be aware they might not be free.

Once you have found an exchange partner, all parties need to complete, sign and submit application forms.

If you’ve signed up for both HomeSwapper and House Exchange, we’d welcome any feedback about your experience with them. If you’d like to share any comments with us, then please tell the Tenancy Management Officer who’ll help you during or after your exchange process.

Here are some tips for swapping your home on HomeSwapper and House Exchange

· It helps to be flexible about the area and type of home you want to move to.

· Including what you think is good about your home and neighbourhood helps to 'sell' your home.

· Uploading photographs can help to show people what your home is like, as people are more likely to be interested if they can see what it looks like.