***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***
House Exchange is set to close and will be replaced by HomeSwapper. Find out more here →
The easiest and most flexible way to find your new home is through www.homeswapper.co.uk.
HomeSwapper is the UK’s largest community of social housing tenants looking for a House Swap/Mutual Exchange. It’s a quick and easy way of finding both local and national moves with 500,000 social tenants currently already on HomeSwapper. Jigsaw Homes Group residents can sign up for the service FREE OF CHARGE!
Once you’re registered, you can start messaging the properties you’re interested in and arranging viewings. It is a great first step in your House Exchange journey.
Please Note: Before signing up to HomeSwapper, you must have:
- A satisfactory rent account
- No current anti-social behaviour action against you
- Your property must be in an acceptable condition
Why it’s important? If you’re serious about swapping, add a photo. It shows you’re keen and it helps screen out people who won’t be interested. Try to show your home at its best.
Take a good picture and ask yourself “What does this show someone who has never seen this room before?”. Hold the camera in the corner of the room to try and get as much as you can in the picture.
If you’re worried for any reason about your home being identified, upload photos of the inside or garden, and make sure you use the description box (tenant comments) to add information about the outside of your home.
Mutual Exchange or Tenancy Exchange
This is a way for social housing residents to find a move by swapping homes with another social housing resident. People move for many reasons, maybe your current home is too large or too small or perhaps you want a change of scene. You can swap homes with any council tenant or housing association tenant in the UK providing you both have the right to mutual exchange, and that both parties wish to swap.
You need to:
- Find someone to swap homes with
- Get written permission from Jigsaw Homes
- Complete the legal paperwork
Do not swap homes without permission or the right documents. This could put you both at risk of eviction.
Swap locally or to another part of the country
The principle can work between any locations or even all in the same street! You are not restricted to your current landlord as all social housing landlords are required to allow a mutual exchange as long as you meet the necessary criteria. The key is to ensure that everyone has looked around the properties involved and is happy to move.
Swaps can involve more than one property
You can either home swap with one tenant, known as a direct exchange or you could try and find a multi-way swap. There are no limits to how many people can be involved in a home swap chain, however the more you have in the chain, the more complicated it can get, as there is always the chance that someone in the chain could change their mind.
Are you eligible?
An exchange can take place between any assured or secure tenant of a local authority or Registered Provider.
Jigsaw Homes may refuse permission for an exchange on legal grounds, including if:
- you are being evicted
- you work for your landlord and your home comes with your job
- your home is adapted for a person with special needs and nobody in the new tenant’s household has those needs
- the home you want to move to is larger than you need
- the home you want to move to is too small and your household would be overcrowded
Following an application, we will write to you within 6 weeks explaining the reasons for any refusal.
Rent, Service Charges and Right to Buy
When you exchange, you take on the rights and conditions of the new tenancy. This also includes any ‘Right to Buy’ discounts that may have built up, which will be affected should the exchange go ahead.
You will also take on the rent and service charges expected at the new property.
We will inspect your property before we agree to a Mutual Exchange and may refuse if the property is not in a good condition.
