to ask if home swap/exchange websites ever work?

[miniaturepixieonacid]

Dislaimer - I don't actually have a house to swap and am not entitled to one so I am purely using these facebook sites as property porn!!

But all I keep seeing is people posting, for example: lovely 4 bedroom home in West Sussex, looking for a 2-3 bed in London and getting back, for example, 'got a 4 bed in Birmingham, are you interested' (?!) I haven't yet seen a post where somebody has had success. Just loads of people offering something totally different to what the original poster asked for or asking for a multiswap which sounds horrendously complicated. I think the ability to swap is a great idea in theory but how reliable is it? I saw one lady post that she wanted a really quick swap because her house was all packed up in boxes and the lady she was going to swap with had pulled out at the last minute. What happens if a move actually happens and then one party wants to swap back? Is there any legal protection in doing this at all? Has anybody ever tried this with a positive outcome?

Just curious really. It's not something I'm doing personally. Just fallen down a facebook rabbit hole and getting addicted!

I think it’s very hard to get a swap. I come on the mn and people make it sound easy but I know people who have been trying to swap for 5+ years. Nice houses they just can’t find anyone who wants to downsize. I come on MN and it’s “just do a swap” 🙄 I’m on those swapping sites and I just mainly see people complaining that no one wants to give up their garden to go into a high rise flat. Lots of “2 bed flat 10th floor want a 3 bed house only. No flats!”

5 years - ouch! That sounds soul destroying. Not necessarily any better than being on the actual housing list is it.

I've worked with tenants looking for them and they can work, but it's rare. The ones that tended to happen were:
Person A has a small property in a v desirable area/tourist area/inner city that has been gentrified
Person B has a larger property in an average area but wants to live where person A lives and can sacrifice the space.

Otherwise the vast majority are people wanting to swap 1 or 2 bed flats for 3 or 4 bed houses. There's a perception that there must be lots of older people who are left in family homes after children have grown up and moved on, but that's not the reality. Kids living at home longer, needing to move back in, needing space to offer to a family member etc etc - it's rare that people can confidently downsize, and when they do it's more likely to move to a property specifically for older adults/retirement communities.

Yeh from my experience of swapping sites 90% of people are trying to upsize not downsize !

Unfortunately our council are no longer housing people that aren’t priority band so for some people it’s swap or nothing.

Yes, i went from a 1 bed high rise flat to a 2 bed flat that i stayed in for a year then a 3 bed house. But it's very rare to get to lucky the woman i swapped with wanted to be nearer family and i basically lived 1 minute from them and her kids had grown up so didn't need the 3 bed house anymore. All of the properties were in the same town too.

It can work. Someone close to me swapped their pokey 3 bed character property in a desirable area in north London, for a more spacious 4 bed an the outer "rougher" borough. The location swap meant more for one (it was steps away from fancy bars and restaurants etc) and the house size meant more to the other (steps away from a hub area but nowhere near as fancy).

I've done it twice, first time went from a 2 bed flat to a 3 bed house but in a different town. Took 5 years to find somewhere and it was soul destroying.

Second time was a 3 way swap, PITA to organise but we got there.

Am now looking to downsize but to a very specific area and think we will have to be very patient!

Glad to hear it works out occasionally though it seems like such a clunky 'amateur' method for councils to be forcing people into.

Nighttodarydreamer - good luck! Hope you get what you need eventually.

I'm trying at the minute, but am also on the housing register, which I'm also having no luck with.
There are plenty who want to swap with me, but we're having to move as our house is unsuitable for my disabled son. We have an OT report and any property we move to needs to be compliant with that.
We are in a nice, quiet area, and those wanting to swap are in the seriously unpleasant parts of town. I grew up on a rough council estate and our family was in fear for our safety for most of it.