How to apply to exchange your home with a council tenant, or housing association tenant.
Mutual exchange application
We're prioritising existing applications according to the date they were received, and we'll check to see if you still want to proceed. Where another landlord is involved, we'll need to confirm the other organisation is also in a position to progress.
An inspection of the property may be required before the final agreement and exchange, even if an inspection has already been carried out.
Keeping you safe:
- before any visits to your home we'll call you to establish if it's safe to do so
- during visits, we'll follow social distancing guidelines and use personal protective equipment where appropriate
If you have not been contacted within one month of submitting your application, contact us by calling 0117 922 2200 (option 4) or email estates@bristol.gov.uk.
About mutual exchange
It may be quicker to exchange your home than applying for a transfer through Home Choice Bristol.
You can only apply for an exchange if you're a secure tenant. Introductory tenants cannot exchange.
When you exchange your home you'll also be swapping your tenancy rights for those of the other tenant.
Check how your rights may change
Before you think about exchanging, it's useful to check:
- the terms and conditions of their tenancy
- their security of tenure, you may swap your secure tenancy for a fixed term tenancy
- the cost of their rent, you may be paying more than you currently do and you need to be able to pay for the difference in rent
- the condition of the home you are exchanging into, check what repairs works, if any, are being carried out by your new landlord
Find someone to exchange with
You can find someone to exchange with using the Homeswapper website.
It's free, quick and easy to use. All you have to do is sign up to the service.
HomeSwapper will advertise your property to other tenants across the country, and it'll search for possible matches for you after you set your preferences.
There's also a free mobile app, which you can use to look for properties and upload photos of your home.
You can also use social media to find people looking to exchange their home.
Apply for a mutual exchange
When you've found someone to exchange with you need to get permission from us to exchange.
Before you start
You, and the person you want to exchange with, must both complete this form, unless they're a housing association tenant
If you want to exchange with a housing association tenant, they'll have to apply for an exchange with their own landlord
Documents you'll need to upload to the form
- For each person over 18 that will be moving with you:
- a copy of their identification (ID): such as a passport, photo driver's licence, birth certificate or Home Office Travel document
- a household bill that shows they've lived at the property for three months or more
- If anyone moving with you is pregnant, their MATB1 form
- If you have any children moving with you, your child benefit award notice
The maximum total size for all files is 19MB.
More than two households wanting to exchange
If there are more than two households wanting to exchange properties with each other, you'll need to fill in a document three or more way mutual exchange form (126 KB) .
Email the completed form to estates@bristol.gov.uk
Repairs inspection
We'll send a repairs officer to inspect your home after we've received your application.
They'll check each room and look at any alterations you've made or damage that's been caused whilst you've been living there.
You might be asked to fix anything that's been broken before exchanging.
Anything you need to fix will be given one of the following categories:
- category E, essential repairs due to health and safety which must be completed before the exchange can go ahead
- category C, conditional repairs that need to be fixed before you exchange
- category A, things that might be broken but can be signed for as acceptable by the incoming tenant so you don't have to fix them
You'll need to arrange another inspection with us so that we can check that category C and E repairs have been resolved properly.
We won't repair or replace anything that is in category A before or after you've exchanged your home. These will need to be accepted by the incoming tenant and signed for.
We'll also inspect the property that you're moving into, but we won't repair or replace anything that's been damaged or broken by the previous tenant.
Once you've exchanged you agree to take on responsibility for maintain and fixing all items in your new home, which includes non-standard items such as kitchens, built-in wardrobes, showers, extensions or heating systems.
How long it takes
We'll let you know our decision within 42 days of receiving your application.
The decision will be one of the following outcomes:
- consent is given without conditions, so you can exchange your home
- conditional consent is given, so you may exchange if you've met the conditions that we set out
- withhold consent, you cannot exchange your home
It's important you don't exchange before we've given you permission and you have signed the relevant paperwork
Reasons we may withhold consent to exchange
If we withhold consent we'll write to you to explain why.
It could be because:
- you have outstanding rent arrears, and you've not made regular payments to reduce them
- you've been served with a Notice Seeking Possession or a Possession Order
- the property you want to move to has been adapted and you don't have any need for these
- the property you want to move to is in a supported housing scheme, and you do not require supported housing, or are under the age restriction to live in that block
- your current home is being used for your job
- the property you're moving to is either too large or too small
- you're either offering or receiving money in relation to your exchange, it's illegal to offer or accept money to help you carry out the exchange.
Completing the exchange
Once we've given you permission to exchange we'll agree a convenient date to sign any necessary paperwork and go through the repairs survey.
Fixing repairs after you've exchanged
We'll continue to carry out the same repairs that we've always carried out after you've exchanged. This includes things that have been damaged due to normal wear and tear.