Home swap
If you're a social housing tenant, you can apply to swap your home with another tenant.
Known as ‘mutual exchange’, social housing tenants can apply to swap homes with each other.
You could move within or outside of Salford, and it doesn’t matter if you all have different landlords. As long as everyone involved in the exchange is a social housing tenant, and your tenancy agreements allow it, you could swap homes.
A mutual exchange is a great way to find a new home without having to wait on the housing register.
There are three ways of finding a mutual exchange:
- Salford Home Search – this is an online platform run by Salford City Council, where all social housing in the area is advertised.
- House Exchange – this is a dedicated website for social housing tenants who want to move. You can view what’s available across the UK and let people know what kind of property you’re looking for, and what your current home is like.
- You can find your own match through friends and family or other people you know.
Home Swap FAQs
Each party involved in the swap needs to fill in a mutual exchange application form and return it to us. You can start the process through MySalix.
Salix Homes will provide a written reply within 42 days, about whether we agree to the mutual exchange.
All parties must then complete a legal document known as a deed of assignment, which says everyone has agreed for the exchange to take place.
We’d always advise you to view the other property before you agree to the exchange, and don’t be afraid to ask plenty of questions.
You should carefully check the type of tenancy the other party has. You could lose your entitlement to any Right to Buy or Right to Acquire, which gives some tenants the opportunity to buy their home at a discounted rate.
We will consider applications where a property is larger than your needs on a case-by-case basis.
However, we will not approve the exchange if it will cause overcrowding in the property.
Yes. You are not legally committed to the exchange until after the ‘deed of assignment’ has been signed. Once this legal document has been signed, you can’t change your mind about the move.
