Mutual Exchanges

View our latest guidance on Mutual Exchanges related to Covid-19.

Mutual exchanges allow social housing tenants to swap their home to a different sized property, or area. Each landlord must agree before an exchange can take place.

Homeswapper

Homeswapper aims to help public tenants swap homes and is supported by many local authorities and housing authorities in Kent. You can use its website to find another home to exchange yours for. This means your home will be advertised here for other tenants to see.

When you register you can say what sort of property you are looking for. You can log in any time and search for possible matches.

Once you have found a home that you would like to exchange to, all households involved must complete the online application form on the Homeswapper website. This is found by clicking the “Found a Swap” button which will be showing on your dashboard as it does on the image below. From here, you simply complete the application form and click submit.

This new system will allow you to see the progress of your exchange as well as any requests that have been made by the Housing Management Team for further information, such as photos of your home.

If you are not registered on Homeswapper but have found an exchange, please contact the housing team who will send you an invitation via email to complete the online application form without the need for you to register.

If you have any questions please email the housing team or phone them on 01233 330688.

When you find a property you are interested in you will need to arrange a viewing. It’s worthwhile making a note beforehand of things you want to know about. The following questions may help:

The next stage

If you wish to go ahead after you have seen each others’ homes, the next stage is to complete a mutual exchange form for each family. When completing the form, tell us about any problems in the property that concern you – we can check these when we inspect the property. The council is not responsible for the decoration within our properties. The council may not be responsible for repairs or reinstatement work caused by tenant's alterations or through the removal of tenant's alterations.

If there have been alterations to the property that you consider undesirable or which may represent a health and safety risk you must get it resolved before you agree to the exchange.

Be clear about any items you are intending to take with you or intend to leave behind. For example, tenant improvements, sheds, garden features, planting. Where you decide to take items with you, you must ensure that all reinstatement work is undertaken and that you have not created a health and safety risk.