Start with people you know
If you’re not sure about house-swapping but looking to dip your toe in the water, exchange with people you have a connection with, rather than strangers.
Naomi Kendall, an artist based in Somerset, has embarked on several home swaps. She says: “You can’t be too precious about your home, but equally, you need to feel comfortable with the people you swap with, so you’re not worrying the whole time. You need to think about your neighbours a bit, too. We’ve only swapped with people we knew, or people who were friends of friends.”
Find the right platform
If you are ready to switch with strangers, platforms such as HomeExchange, HomeLink and Home Base Holidays (which also runs the Guardian’s own website, Guardian Home Exchange) let you list your property, browse places where you would like to stay, and contact the owners to see if they would be interested in swapping with you. These charge an annual fee: at the time of writing, Home Base Holidays charged £49 a year, HomeLink £120 and HomeExchange £180. In most cases, no other money will change hands.
These platforms offer direct swaps with another homeowner. You get in touch with each other, and if they want to swap with you, you discuss all the details and make a plan that suits everyone.
The switch doesn’t necessarily have to be simultaneous – perhaps you are going away somewhere in August, and the other family comes to stay in your house, then while that family are away in a different destination in October, you go to stay in their empty house.
As well as swaps with only two parties involved, HomeExchange has a “GuestPoints” system where you can let people stay in your home when you are away, in return for a number of GuestPoints, then use those points as a credit for a stay in another home at another date.
Trust in your house
A few platforms – for example, the US-based site Kindred – operate an applications system, where they check your home meets its minimum requirements – for example, wifi, a workspace and “tasteful” decoration. On many platforms, though, you simply tick the boxes to show your facilities, and the process becomes self-regulating, with people opting for swaps that meet their requirements.
A lot of people worry they will stay somewhere incredible and their guests will, in turn, be underwhelmed. Your home doesn’t need to be perfect, but do be candid in your descriptions. When creating your listing, clear clutter and make it look as appealing as you can for the photos, but include images of the avocado bathroom suite you plan to update, so there are no surprises.
For most platforms you don’t need to own your home, but, says Mark Sealey, the chief executive of Home Base Holidays: “Members who rent their homes must get an agreement from their landlord or letting agency before listing the property for home swapping.”
Sell your area
It’s not just about the house – people want a base from which to explore.
Even if you don’t live in a tourist hotspot, mention any places of interest that are within an hour or so’s drive – cities, national parks, beaches, attractions, anything that might pique people’s curiosity – and include photos.
Tell your insurer
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) advises that you speak to your home insurer to see whether a swap would have an impact on your cover. “Your insurer will also be able to advise on what exclusions may be in your policy regarding loss or damage caused by guests,” an ABI spokesperson says.
Pikl, an insurer specialising in cover for “the sharing economy”, is among the firms offering a property host top-up policy suitable for home swapping or Airbnb-style lets if your existing policy is inadequate. Ad hoc cover is available from £2 a day, and cover for up to 30 days in a year is £39.99. It covers fire damage caused by the guests, accidental or malicious damage, as well as public liability up to £2m an event if the guests were to get injured as a result of the house swap. You need permission for the swap from your main insurer for the top-up policy to be valid.
Some people swap cars as well as homes. Check whether your motor insurance provider will allow this – if it does, you may need to provide licence details for the driver and pay extra. Your exchange partner should do the same for you. Sealey says some Home Base Holidays members have split the cost of car rental in cases where insurance policies are too restrictive for one party to borrow a car.
Expect charming imperfections
One person’s “clean and tidy” is another’s “how do they live like this?”
“The vast majority of places that are swapped are people’s year-round homes, so they are not always going to be perfect,” Sealey says. “Occasionally issues occur because people don’t have the same approach to housekeeping. If your home is immaculate and you need the place you stay in to be the same, ask questions to find out how your potential swapper approaches cleaning.”
Be flexible
“If you need to be in Madrid on a certain date in April for a wedding, it might be difficult to find a suitable swap,” says Caroline Connolly, the country manager for HomeLink UK. “But if you can say ‘we’d like to go to Spain in the summer’, you’re far more likely to find something that works for you.”
When you register, you can specify destinations or leave that open – some say that being open-minded about locations can lead to more interesting swaps. Connolly’s first-ever swap was to a house in Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada – a place that she would have struggled to find on a map at the time. “It turned out to be incredible,” she says.
Take your time and ask questions
“The first contact you have with members will be very much feeling things out,” Sealey says. “Give yourself plenty of time to find the right place and build trust with one another.”
Ask a lot of questions – and be prepared to answer them – and check the address on Google Maps to see if there is something that might be a problem for you, such as road noise or busy city centre nightlife if you are a light sleeper.
Phillippa Rose from London and her family have swapped homes several times using HomeExchange, staying in homes in the UK, France and Spain. Rose recommends meeting online before the swap: “I find a live video call really nice, just to get to know the people you’re swapping with, and you can have a virtual show-around, too.”
Leave a small welcome pack with information on your home and the area, and consider recording videos to help with any quirks – for example, if there is a knack to opening the washing machine door. “The owners in France recorded a video to show how to change the pool filter – it’s much easier to see how things work on a video,” Rose says.
Store your stuff and keep things clean
Before the swap, spring clean, clear clutter, and perhaps put away anything particularly breakable or valuable, or your child’s precious Lego creations. Store things in the attic if you have one, or take a box round to a friend or family member’s home.
“We have members who do longer-term swaps, say for three months, and in those cases they might rent storage units,” says Sealey.
“We lock certain things in a cupboard, and we make sure we empty a couple of drawers in the bedrooms for guests to use,” Rose says. Rather than emptying wardrobes containing the family’s clothes, they provide freestanding clothes rails.
Aside from one broken lightbulb, she says she has never had any problems with guests.
Unless you are very unlucky, your home will be well looked-after, Sealey says: “Most experienced house swappers like to leave the home in as good a state, or even better, than they found it. There is a spirit of respect here: this is someone’s home and they have welcomed you into it, so you should take care of it.”
