As a tenant of Solihull Council you may have the right to exchange your home as long as you have our written permission.
To be eligible to apply you must hold a Secure, Fixed, or Assured tenancy; you will not be eligible to apply if you hold an Introductory tenancy, a starter tenancy, or if your tenancy has been demoted.
If you have a secure or assured tenancy which began before 1 April 2012 and you swap with a fixed term council or housing association tenant, you should get another lifetime tenancy.
If you have a secure or assured tenancy which began on or after 1 April 2012 and you swap with a fixed term council or housing association tenant, you could lose your lifetime tenancy.
Core factors that we will consider for all exchanges are as follows:
- – Rent account history
- – Conduct of tenant history (nuisance / anti-social behaviour)
- – Other breaches of tenancy
- – Under occupation / overcrowding
- – Previous succession / assignment
- – Property adapted for a disabled person.
- – Condition of property
If after initial checks we are satisfied that your application can be accepted for processing we will confirm our decision to you in writing within 42 days from the date when the applications from all parties have been received and acknowledged by respective landlords.
As part of the mutual exchange process all applicants properties must be inspected before an exchange can be approved.
We will not refuse permission unless we have grounds to do so.
You can advertise your property and find other tenants looking to swap on the self-help website Homeswapper which has replaced Swap and Move.
If you have a HomeSwapper account, you can access an application by the dashboard. If you are not on HomeSwapper, you can create your own account, or we can send you a link.
HomeSwapper now has a SwapTracker module which allows us to manage your mutual exchange application. Please read the user guide (pdf 3 mB) for more information to help understand the process and the SwapTracker system.
With SwapTracker, you can complete an application and see the status of your application online as well as any requests from us for more information.
If you are unable to complete the mutual exchange application form via SwapTracker you can download or print the application from the link provided on this page.
Alternatively, paper forms are available at Connect Offices in Solihull town centre or Chelmsley Wood town centre.
Or you can request a paper form from us by calling our contact centre on 0121 717 1515 and we will post one out to you.
Fair Processing Notice
As a SCH tenant, the information you give to HomeSwapper will be shared with SCH.
For more information about this please read HomeSwapper’s privacy statement.
With this information, we may:
- – Help tenants with finding suitable properties they are eligible for
- – Look into the data we have which may help us find tenants’ a suitable property
- – Share it with organisations who have role to play in the mutual exchange process and who may be external to the Council
- – E-mail our tenants with suggested swaps, information about how to get the most out of advertising their property and send reminders to log into their account
Your information may also be shared with council services and partner organisations to make sure our records are kept accurate and to help us identify services or benefits you may be entitled to or interested in. We may also need to share your information for the prevention and detection of fraud and/or other crimes as the law requires.
For further information about how we use your information please read our privacy notice.