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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Homeswapper is a complete joke

70 replies

BedTimeNow · 01/04/2016 18:53

Sorry I posted this on chat earlier and no ones replied I'm guessing all the traffic is on AIBU...

Just want to see if I'm being unrealistic about moving via a mutual exchange.

Are there any other MNetters trying to home swap? I am losing the will to live!

I'm in London but unless you have a 'house with a garden that's not on an estate' no one will swap even if they live on an estate themselves in a small flat with no decorating done in there own homes!

I am trying to move to a different area (still in London) to be nearer to family, but I honestly don't see this happening sad

I even saw an advert last night from someone saying they need a house with stairs as their child is getting teased by their friends as they live in a flat!

Please tell me I'm not alone?

I am on Homeswapper and House exchange are there any other better sites to use?
I'm desperate!

OP posts:

Cuddlequeen · 02/04/2016 18:52

We have been through this and are now re-locating to the other end of country where there are more housing options

Original poster

BedTimeNow · 02/04/2016 21:57

Gin your not supposed to offer money you can get in trouble by the council and potentially lose your tenancy! though I do know someone who paid the other swappers rent arrears as they wouldn't be able to move without clearing them.

CuttedUpPear I checked the homeswap section and I can see tumbleweeds! it's very quiet over there other than the extravagant homeswaps abroad

and you're right its definitely the people on the actual website, I had a women ask me Many questions about the area and how many flats are there she could have easily checked with google maps.

I had another woman say I could view whenever I wanted as she was free, but when I actually tried to arrange a time she was busy everyday I tried to view in the evening at 6pm and she told me I wouldn't be able to see the property as it will be dark...this was on Thursday!! it's been light all week it doesn't get dark till about 8pm!

OP posts:

Original poster

BedTimeNow · 02/04/2016 21:59

LifeofI I'm curious what was the white lie ? i reallyyy want to move.

OP posts:

Gowgirl · 03/04/2016 08:14

Home swapper is full of time wasters, I got my me through FB, it was the most stressful thing I've ever done even though it was their advert to start with. Exchange locata seems to work better for London....

manicinsomniac · 03/04/2016 08:37

The concept seems doomed from the start to me. Almost everyone who wants to move is going to want something better than what they currently have, aren't they. So if someone wants a garden but doesn't have one they'll never get a swap, if someone wants a good area but has a bad area they'll never get a swap and if someone wants 3 bedrooms but has 2 they'll never get a swap etc. Because (apart from rare specific cases) why would anyone agree to a swap downwards instead of up?!

Having said that, if I had a council house I would swap it for almost anything I could cram my children into if it was in London. Even if I had an 8 bedroom council house (sure they don't exist!) with a huge garden in another town, I'd swap it for a 2 bed flat in London. But I'm insane and have an obsession with moving to London which I'll never be able to satisfy. So yep, I'm sitting in my crumbling but beautiful 2.5 bed cottage in the countryside with a garden envying people in overcrowded dingy high rises in London!!

Gowgirl · 03/04/2016 08:42

Strangly swopping into London was the easy one for me as I was by the coast, older people are willing to swop out.
It was the time wasters who like to nose around your house locally that pissed me off. People are less likely to view houses for fun if there is distance involved

Beth2511 · 03/04/2016 08:57

I wouldnt mind even if we could get a 2 bed with a big second room to fit a bunk bed and a single in it.

We are completely stuck because dsd who stays three nights a week isnt allowed to be included on the list for allocations so we have 3 kids in a box room which means once youngest dc goes intoa. Cot dsd wont have a bed as its not big enough to even do bunks with a trundle. We live in a really lovely small block of four flats on a 1quiet road with private carpark and shared garden but proving impossible. We are also only people with kids and rest are elderly which should also appeal to non-families!

Oliversmumsarmy · 03/04/2016 09:14

No idea how this works but would an option be to buy your current property from the council/HA then either sell or rent out current property to then buy or rent what you want in the area you want?

Original poster

BedTimeNow · 03/04/2016 10:40

Gowgirl just been on that website and seems good but a lot of the adverts were posted years ago, I may just add mine though you never know

manic that's basically it, most people like you say want to upgrade even if it means they live in a small flat with no garden they then want a house and it must have its own drive and own garden. its really unrealistic soo many people just don't end up moving.

Oliversmum if I could afford to buy believe me I would try.

Does any one know where I can post my leaflets other than supermarkets and housing offices? (I'm putting them there already) particularly where older / elderly people may go? hopefully some may want to live on the ground floor.

OP posts:

lovemylife49 · 03/04/2016 10:47

I was on Homeswapper until three months ago, when I finally got a transfer from my HA, but agree with you it is frustrating, depressing and it does sometimes feel as if people are on there with no real intention of finding a swap. I had a two bedroom flat in South London (between Clapham and Balham) a victorian conversion, not on an estate, big garden, nicely decorated, and couldn't believe the reasons that people gave for not wanting to swap - bus stop too far away, big windows which would cost a fortune to buy curtains for etc. I realise that perhaps they just didn't want the flat and had to think of something to say, but after two years of disappointment, I am so glad that I don't have to bother anymore.

Fedup21 · 03/04/2016 10:50

I didn't realise that the bedroom didn't apply to people over 60?!

Gowgirl · 03/04/2016 11:20

Local doctors surgeries in the area you want to move to!

Joshuajosephspork · 03/04/2016 11:32

Ok, it may be frustrating, full of time wasters etc but it does work. We see about 80 successful m/x a year through Homeswapper (LA Housing Manager here)

Just a couple of points:

There are only a few grounds on which a RSL can refuse a m/x. One of these is that the size of the property is not 'reasonably suitable for the proposed assignee'. Having one spare bedroom would normally not be considered unreasonable and if your LL is automatically refusing all proposed exchanges where there is one spare room this should be challenged.

Councils cannot make tenants move to smaller homes. Secure tenants, which the vast majority of council tenants are, have an absolute right to remain in their homes provided they do not breach their conditions of tenancy. Flexible tenancies are designed to help this but tenants will only be required to move at the end of their term. Bedroom tax and other Welfare changes are also designed to help with this but are so ill thought out and incoherent that they are extremely ineffective.

If you pay somebody to carry out a m/x with you, and this includes sweeteners like clearing rent arrears, you could both end up losing your homes. This is a small risk as you are unlikely to be found out, but a real one (and LL are likely to investigate where arrears are cleared just before a m/x). Another risk in this situation is that you clear arrears for a prospective m/x and the other party pulls out leaving you out of pocket with no comeback.

Abed · 03/04/2016 11:39

We were refused a move because it was two bedrooms (literally a box room) when we only have one bedroom, should we have challenged that? The other tenant was hit by the bedroom tax and struggling to pay her bills whereas myself and my wife both work so we don't get housing benefit etc.

Original poster

BedTimeNow · 03/04/2016 12:05

lovemylife I would love your old flat, exactly where I would want to move. Those excuses sound very weak, I guess they just didn't want to move so gave rubbish excuses, why not just say it's not for me sorry.

Glowgirl great idea thanks!

Joshua I am desperate to move but I wouldn't give a cash inventive first I'm to scared of getting caught and second I don't have that kind of money.

OP posts:

speedqueen101 · 30/06/2016 02:54

I've posted so many home swap ads on different sites and no matter what I do it still attracts timewasters. I have on offer a large one bed ex council block 2nd floor flat near Kings Cross St.Pancras and Euston Stations London if anyone is interested at all then plz message me to come and view any time. I'm a serious swapper wanting to relocate not upsize. My stuff is packed up near the door because the tenant changed his mind at the last minute before signing the deed 2 months into the process. Unbelievable. I need someone to snap up my place a.s.a.p. this is the 2nd time I went through this nightmare. In my experience, where tenants have mental health, substance misuse and support needs, the housing partnership regulator should step in and give a struggling tenant guidance during a mutual exchange. I also think tenants who waste housing staff's and everybody's time when they agree to exchange to wait until the end to decide again should be subject to a warning on their tenancy or at the very least should be banned from homeswapper, unless the tenant can provide a valid reason and consideration may be given to appeal.

thecatsarecrazy · 30/06/2016 08:27

I joined about a month ago and have had no interest. We have a 2 bed in a quiet town, close to schools and have a good size garden, pets allowed. But we are looking for a 3bed in the main town. Only a couple on there and one had no carpets and bare walls.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 30/06/2016 11:35

beth

You need to find something like this, I couldn't find this perticular item on a link but I know at least 3 places around the UK make them,my he seller in this image actually comes to your house and builds it as far as I'm aware the others deliver flat packed but they are all around the same price. I use them a hell of a lot when setting up safe houses and what not.

shabinaluck · 17/08/2017 02:26

hiya to all i am new on here. i am on homeswapper and i am really upset and i have tried so hard to get a 2 bed home. i live in a really small flat on the 3rd floor with my 8 month old and i am so greatful for a roof over my head. its unfair there are people living in 2 or 3 beds who are single with no kids living with them as they are all grow up and left.how is it this fair or single mums or people who really need these homes. the council should pay for 1 room only then they will move out.and they are so many fussy ungreatful people on homeswapper who are rude and cant even reply. has anyone had any issues on there? i will you all the best in finding your new homes.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 17/08/2017 02:32

YNBU. The council want me to use homeswapper. Only I need a house with adaptations. To swap with a house that has adaptations. You need adaptations. Which this home doesn't have.

Coupled with the fact I live in one of the most shittest areas ever. No one would swap with me if I paid them.

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