If you are an assured tenant, you have the right to exchange your home with other housing association tenants or local authority (council) secure tenants anywhere in the United Kingdom.
This is called 'mutual exchange', but both landlords must give their permission. If you have found someone you want to exchange with, you should both contact us to fill in the necessary forms and get any advice you may need. You do not have this right if you have an assured shorthold tenancy.
Before you exchange, it is important to realise that mutual exchange can sometimes affect your tenancy rights, including the Right to Acquire or Preserved Right to Buy. For example, if you have the Preserved Right to Buy because you were a tenant of Kerrier District Council at the time it transferred its housing stock to us, you will lose this right if you change landlords.
Some homes are excluded from the Right to Buy or Right to Acquire (for example because they are in certain rural areas or are particularly suitable for elderly people). If you are planning to buy the home you are moving into, you should check with the landlord of the property whether it is excluded from the Right to Buy or the Right to Acquire.
Please ask us for more information if you are thinking of doing a mutual exchange, so that we can give you the right advice for your own circumstances.
Currently, Coastline Housing Ltd use Homeswapper in order to manage the advertising of mutual exchanges.
Homeswapper operates a UK-wide database of tenants who would like to move home and advertise their homes on its website. Tenants who register can be put in touch with other registrants in order to seek to achieve a mutual exchange of their homes.
Homeswapper will automatically search for potential matches between registrants, and where potential matches are found, registrants will be alerted by way of email, text message to their mobile phone or by letter.
Coastline Housing Ltd will also be keeping printed Homeswapper lists for people wishing to move out of the district ('OUT list'), into the district ('IN list') and within the district ('WITHIN list'). These printed lists will be updated monthly and are available for you to look at in our reception at Ferris House.
Visit www.homeswapper.co.uk for more information and to register. Alternatively, if you do not have access to the internet, you may request an application form by contacting our office on 0808 202 7728.
