If you are a council house tenant wanting to move home, you may be able to exchange your home with another council or housing association tenant – this is called mutual exchange.

A Mutual Exchange gives council tenants the opportunity to live in the property and area that meets their needs. The process involves two or more tenants exchanging their homes.

For tenants of registered social landlords (other local authorities or housing associations) swapping your tenancy with another tenant is often the only way of moving around an area. Home Swapper is another good website that can help with a Mutual Exchange.

Finding someone to exchange with:
Some councils operate mutual housing exchange schemes. This is usually done through completing a form to join the council’s exchange list of tenants. Joining your council’s exchange list or finding other(s) to exchange with does not guarantee that you will be able to exchange your home.

In England and Wales secure tenants (other than tenants of a fully mutual co-operative) have a right to exchange with another secure tenant, granted by Section 92 of the Housing Act 1985. The Local Government & Housing Act 1989 extended the right, allowing secure tenants to also exchange with assured tenants of registered housing associations or charitable housing trusts.

Introductory tenants are unable to exchange. However, as soon as an introductory tenant becomes a secure tenant they can apply to do so. There is no time related qualifying criteria. Therefore, if a secure tenant moves to another home by way of transfer or mutual exchange, there is no reason why they cannot immediately apply to carry out a mutual exchange.

WHAT IS A MUTUAL EXCHANGE?

The Mutual Exchange is a simple legal procedure to allow tenants to swap homes with each other. In order to do this it is also necessary that they swap tenancies, becoming responsible for each other’s rent and tenancy obligations.
The Council should incur no expense to facilitate a mutual exchange. Therefore minor repairs, decorating or the removal of rubbish will not be carried out on behalf of the incoming tenant. However, the Council will continue to honour its normal repair obligations.

THE PROCESS

A tenancy is a legal interest in a property. Therefore, in order for a Mutual Exchange to take place, this interest must be legally transferred or assigned to the Mutual Exchange partner. Neither party signs a tenancy agreement, as this would create a new tenancy rather than an exchange.

The Mutual Exchange is carried out by using a Deed of Assignment for each exchange partner. The assignment is not valid unless it has been completed by a formal deed of assignment form.

The Council controls the process because the tenants are required to seek the Landlord’s consent to carry out an exchange. The Council’s consent is given in a legal Permission to Assign form which is signed by the new incoming tenant (it is not necessary for the outgoing tenant to sign the form).

All tenants wishing to carry out a Mutual Exchange must apply to their landlord’s for permission to exchange. The Council has a maximum of 42 days from receipt of the application by which to provide the tenant with a written decision.

All tenant’s involved in the exchange must have the written permission of their landlord before going ahead. A request to exchange can only be refused under one of the specific grounds set out in Schedule 3 of the Housing Act 1985. However, the exchange can be agreed in principle but delayed until certain conditions are complete (conditional consent), provided the tenant is notified in writing before the end of the 42 days.

GROUNDS FOR REFUSING A SECURE TENANT THE RIGHT TO EXCHANGE

Note: If consent is refused for any reason other than those stated in Schedule 3 of the Housing Act 1985 then consent is treated as having been given. The relevant grounds for refusal are as follows:

• Where there is a valid possession order against one of the tenants or a Notice of Seeking Possession has been served and is still in force.
• Where the accommodation is substantially larger than is reasonably required by the incoming tenant (one spare bedroom is reasonable).
• The size of the accommodation is not large enough for the needs of the incoming tenant’s household.
• If the premises were let in consequence of employment and form part of, or are in the grounds of, a non-housing building.
• If there are substantial special features, which would make it suitable for occupation by a disabled person, or the property is one of a group let to people with special needs with a special facility provided nearby.
• If the accommodation is sheltered and would result in no one with the relevant needs being in occupation.

CONDITIONAL CONSENT

Conditional consent must be granted where:

• There is a continuing breach of the tenancy conditions, for which no Notice or possession order is in force e.g. repair work may be necessary to restore the property to a condition acceptable to the Council.

Where conditional consent is given, the exchange will only be allowed to take place when the conditions of the consent have been satisfied e.g. where the arrears have been cleared in full or any works required have been complete to a satisfactory standard.
Note: If special circumstances requiring that full consent should be given before the conditions are fulfilled the case must be referred to the Area Housing Manager.

1. We do all the Mutul Exchange hard work for you which is why we do not list homes for exchange for you to browse.
2. Fill-Out The Form Below to be immediately assigned a Mutual Exchange Expert Finder.
3. Check Your Email Address for Confirmation
4. We then search our vast databases of various sources to help find your ideal property swap.
5. Details of properties matching your requirements are then emailed to you, along with their contact information.
6. Coming Soon. Browse our gallery of available properties and see if you find the home of your dreams.