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Swap your home with another social housing tenant

If you are a council or housing association tenant, you can mutually exchange your house or flat with another tenant.

Who can swap their social housing home

If you rent social housing, you have the right to exchange your property. Please note, if you have assured shorthold tenancy or non-secure tenancy, you cannot exchange your home.

Your housing landlord can refuse your request if you, or the tenants you’re swapping with:

  • is a new tenant
  • has been given a notice of seeking possession
  • has been served a possession order
  • is moving into a property that is too big (the accommodation is substantially larger than is reasonable required by the occupant) or too small, or doesn’t meet your needs
  • is moving into a property reserved for older or disabled people, and you don’t meet this criteria
  • has paid money to other party to exchange.

Challenge a decision

If your request to swap houses is refused, you have the right to appeal against the decision. You can submit an appeal by writing to us.

How to swap your home

To swap your social housing, you need to register with House Exchange and search for available properties. Once you find a property you’d like to move in, you need to complete an online application form. After we receive your application, we will let you know if we can grant permission for the swap.

We can approve the swap quickly if neither party has:

  • rent arrears
  • breached their tenancy conditions.

For more information on national schemes visit HomeSwapper.

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