Swapping my home

You must meet a certain criteria to be eligible for a Mutual Exchange:

• You must have the correct type of tenancy, either a secure, assured, or fixed term.
• You shouldn’t be moving to a property which would lead to overcrowding or where you have more space than you need. However, we’ll consider an exchange where you have one extra bedroom if you’re able to afford it.

• You must not be in arrears with your rent payments.
• You must not be subject to a Possession Order, a Suspended Possession Order or a Notice of Seeking Possession Order or any other ongoing legal action in relation to your tenancy.
• You must meet local lettings criteria for incoming customers. For example, some homes are for customers over a certain age or have specific needs (such as Independent Living or Supported Living schemes).

• The other person’s landlord should be willing for the exchange to take place.
• The swap should not breach any planning regulations.
• You must get our permission in writing before moving.

The person you swap with must meet one of the following requirements.

• They must be an Orbit customer; or
• They must be a customer of another registered social landlord (usually a social housing provider); or
• They should be living in a council-owned and managed home.

There may be other conditions, depending on your type of tenancy. Please get in touch with us on 0800 678 1221 if you would like more information about mutual exchanges. Further information and advice is available on the Shelter website.

1. You can find someone to swap with and also apply to Mutual Exchange by registering on the HomeSwapper website, which is free for customers. There are also other exchange websites and some social media groups where you can find swaps.
2. When you’ve found someone to swap with, we’d recommend that you go to see the home and make sure you’re happy with it before accepting the swap, as you’ll be accepting the property in its current condition.
3. If your swap means that you’ll move to another housing provider, you need to take into account that your rights could change. For example, the type of tenancy for your new home may be different to the type of tenancy you currently hold. We recommend that you check with the new landlord before making any decisions.
4. Once you've found your dream home, log into your Homeswapper account to begin your application. Your swap will be managed through Swaptracker, an add-on service for landlords that manages the process and keeps everyone informed about the swap's progress through an easy-to-use dashboard. Visit Swaptracker for a detailed overview of the features available to help you manage your swap or you can find all the information you need to know in this useful Swaptracker guide.
5. For any tenancy agreement with Orbit, a minimum of one weeks rent in advance will need to be paid before you move.
6. All Orbit customers must have a clear rent account at the time of exchange.
7. We’ll write to you with our decision on your application within 42 days of receiving it. The person you wish to swap with will also need to request permission from their housing provider.

Your Mutual Exchange can’t go ahead without our approval. It’s important that you don’t make any arrangements in relation to the swap until you’ve received our agreement in writing and all parties have agreed a move or exchange date.

If you do so, it might be considered as a breach of your tenancy agreement and action could be taken. It could lead to you being at risk of losing your home.

As soon as we’ve received all the applications, we’ll send you written confirmation.

We’ll make every effort to provide all parties with a decision as soon as we can, but please be aware, this could take up to 42 days from the time we receive your application.

We'll arrange to carry out a property inspection of your home. Once we have all information we need, we'll be able to assess and approve the exchange.

We’ll let you know if there are any issues identified during the inspection, such as repairs you might be responsible for, or repairs that we need to complete before the exchange can go ahead.

We may also need to arrange an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) inspection and an Asbestos Survey. We’ll let you know in writing if we need to arrange these appointments.

If your exchange partner/s aren’t one of our customers, we’ll need to contact their housing provider for a reference. We’ll send them a reference about how you’ve managed your tenancy and about the condition of your current home.

You'll be asked to sign a consent form, confirming you wish to proceed with the swap.

We'll then need to arrange to get an electrical safety certificate for your home. In some cases, we may need to have an isolator switch fitted in your current home, which could lead to a delay in the sign-up process. You may need you to speak to your utility providers about this, but if so, we’ll support you to do so. There may some additional costs associated with having an isolator switch installed, but we’ll support you with this if that’s the case.

When the above tasks have been completed, we’ll then contact all parties to arrange an appointment for everyone to sign the Mutual Exchange paperwork.

We might also need to arrange a gas safety check for the day the new residents move into your current home. If there’s no gas at the property a further appointment will be made for the day you become responsible for your new homes to test your smoke alarms.

You’ll need to pay a minimum of one week’s rent up front when you sign up for one of our homes, even if you receive full housing benefit payments. Please be aware that you’ll only be able to make this payment by debit or credit card and have access to a smart phone or device where you can make online payments.

Please let us know as soon as possible if this is going to cause you any issues and we’ll do what we can to help you. If you’re moving to a home with a new housing provider, you’ll need to contact them to find out if you need to make a rent payment at your sign-up appointment.

There are several things that you need to know, or do, before you move

• It’s against the law to offer or accept an incentive to secure a home swap. If you’ve got any concerns regarding any potentially illegal or fraudulent activity, please contact us on 0800 678 1221.
• You could be at risk of eviction if you charge or receive any money to swap your home.
• When you sign the legal documents for a Mutual Exchange, you accept the home you move to in the condition you find it. Make sure that you know the state of repair and the decorative standard of the property before you commit to anything.
• You’ll need to make sure that your rent account with us is completely up to date with no arrears.
• You’ll need to make sure that any repairs which are your responsibility have been completed.
• You’ll need to leave home in the condition that you would expect your new home to be in when you move in. Please make sure that you remove all your belongings and dispose of any rubbish from your home, including what is in your loft space and garden.
• If you leave anything behind, we’ll need to hire a skip to dispose of everything you’ve left behind. This will cost around £200, and we might need to recharge this to you.
• We understand that sometimes customers agree to leave certain items to gift to the new residents. If this is the case, please let us know in advance so that they’re not disposed of.
• We’re not responsible for any items which are gifted to the new residents. Gifting is an agreement between yourselves and needs to be discussed and agreed before the exchange takes place.
• It’s your responsibility to make sure that all utility companies, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and local authority council tax departments are made aware of the moves, and that you register yourselves at your new home the day your new tenancy begins.
• You need to make sure that you exchange keys with each other, making sure that a minimum of two sets of keys are handed over. We’re not responsible for changing the locks, so if you wish to do so, you’ll need to cover the cost yourselves.

The type of tenancy and rent you will be charged depend on both your current tenancy and the tenancy of the person you're exchanging with. We can provide more details once we receive information from your landlord.

If the exchange involves a Protected Right to Buy (PRTB), please note that some tenants have the preserved right to buy their home. This typically applies to tenants who were in local authority transfer properties before becoming Orbit tenants.

If the tenant you are exchanging with has a PRTB and they are an Orbit tenant, they may still retain their right to buy at your new home (excluding Affordable Fixed Term tenancies).

If you exchange with an assured tenant from another housing association, they will lose their preserved right to buy. However, if you exchange with a secure council tenant, you will have the right to buy your new property. Your exchange partner will not have the right to buy your property unless they are an existing Orbit tenant with the preserved right to buy.