About mutual exchange
A mutual exchange is a home swap between two tenants living in social housing.
It can happen for many reasons, such as needing more (or less) space, moving for work or to be closer to family.
It’s a great option for customers who can’t access or don’t want to wait for the normal allocation process.
It gives you more control and means you’re able to choose a home that suits your needs better in a place you want to live.
You can swap your home with:
- A tenant of your landlord.
- A tenant of another registered social landlord (housing association).
- Someone who lives in a council-owned and managed home.
You cannot swap with a private tenant - both homes must be social housing.
Am I eligible?
You can usually exchange homes if you have a:
- fully assured housing association tenancy
- secure housing association tenancy
- assured shorthold tenancy (AST) with a housing association - only fixed term ASTs of at least 2 years
- secure council tenancy
- flexible (fixed term) council tenancy
You cannot exchange an introductory tenancy but some landlords might agree to give you a new tenancy if you want to exchange.
You cannot exchange a starter tenancy or demoted tenancy.