Mutual exchange

If you are already a Council or housing association tenant and you need to move, you might be able to find another tenant to swap homes with.  This is known as a Mutual Exchange.  For many tenants who want to move to another area or do not have high priority for a move on our transfer list, this can be an easy way to find a new home.

You can register with Home Swapper and once your registration is approved, you can search for properties you would like to move to.  

Home Swapper holds information on people from all over the country who are looking to swap homes.  This way of moving home can be more flexible than joining the Council's transfer list as some landlords will allow you to move to somewhere a bit smaller or larger than you would normally be offered through a transfer.  Also you can move to another county or district through an exchange, without having to have a connection to the area.  It is also quite common for several tenants to arrange exchanges involving three, four or even more properties!  This can help where you can’t find a direct swap with one other tenant.

It is free to register for tenants of all social landlords within Luton.

If you see a property on the site which you are interested in, you can contact the other tenant directly and arrange to view each other’s homes.  If you then want to go ahead, both you and the other tenant will need to contact your existing landlords to apply for permission to exchange.  There will be some restrictions:  for example, you would be expected to have a clear rent account.  Your Housing Officer can give you more information about any restrictions when you apply to exchange.