Swap your council or housing association home

Start an application to swap homes with another council or housing association tenant, also known as a mutual exchange.

What a mutual exchange is

A mutual exchange is when council or housing association tenants swap homes.

Who can apply for a mutual exchange

You can apply to the council for a mutual exchange if:

  • you have a secure tenancy agreement, not including introductory tenancies
  • the properties being swapped meet everybody's needs
  • you're up to date with paying your rent - you can check you're up to date with your rent using our housing customer online system

If you're downsizing under mutual exchange, you can also apply for the Transfer Incentive Scheme.

You can't apply to swap homes if you've broken the rules of your tenancy agreement.

Large panel system (LPS) block information

Read this information if you're considering a mutual exchange into one of our 8 Large Panel System (LPS) high-rise blocks.

Apply for a mutual exchange

Only one Brighton & Hove council tenant should take the role of lead tenant for each mutual exchange application.

You need to tell all other households involved in the exchange that we're going to send them their parts of the application.

Everyone must complete their parts of the application and then return it to us. We'll then review all the information and decide within 42 calendar days.

What you'll need to apply for a mutual exchange

Email addresses

In your lead tenant part of the application, you'll need to provide email addresses for:

  • one of the people moving into your current address
  • one person from each of the other properties involved in the exchange, even if they're outside of Brighton & Hove
  • each person over 18 years old who is moving with you to your new address

We'll send each of them an email showing what to do next, and a link to their part of the application.

Proof of identity and address

You'll need to upload one proof of identity and one proof of address.

For proof of identity, this can be a copy of your:

  • passport
  • driving licence
  • birth certificate
  • marriage or civil partnership certificate

For proof of address, this can be a copy of your:

  • utility bill
  • tax credits
  • benefit award letter from the DWP
  • payslips from the last 3 months
  • bank statements from the last 3 months
  • council tax bill from the last 3 months
  • post office book from the last 3 months

We may contact you for additional documents after we've received your application.

Read our privacy notice for information on how we collect, store and process your data.

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