Your guide to mutual exchange

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Your guide to mutual exchange Before you start • Have you been a tenant for at least twelve months?

• Do you have a clear rent account?

If the answer is no then unfortunately you’re not ready to proceed.

Step one - Applying What do you need to do?

You need to register on the Tyne and Wear Homes system before you can apply for a mutual exchange.

How? Go to www.tyneandwearhomes.org.uk and click on Join Today to complete the mutual exchange application.

If you already registered on Tyne and Wear Homes, log into your account and go to the tab saying ‘My Mutual Exchange’ What else?

Don’t forget to provide your contact details when creating your advert so people can contact you.

You should also provide useful information about your home. Uploading photographs of the inside and outside of your home will help to advertise it.

Step two - Finding a home to swap with What do you need to do?

You need to find another home to swap with.

How?

Talk to family and friends - you could find the new home you’re looking for just by talking to your neighbours and people in your community.

Tyne and Wear Homes will provide you with a full list of properties within Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside and North Tyneside that suit your requirements.

What else?

Go online – like and follow Your Homes Newcastle on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date and see our monthly swap-it newsletter.

• Confirm your contact details and select Continue then I wish to be considered for this property

There are also other mutual exchange Facebook groups and adverts on websites like Gumtree so it’s worth having a look around online.

Once you have found a home that you are interested in, you need to: • Click on the property and select Apply Now

• Properties you select will go into Your Shortlist. If you wish to continue, select Request Exchange.

• Select Contact to make contact with the advertiser of the property you like.

Using Tyne and Wear Homes to find a swap 1 Log into Tyne and Wear Homes with your reference number 2 Go to My Mutual Exchange 3 Go to View the mutual exchange properties that meet your requirements Good matches will show properties that meet both yours and the advertiser’s requirements.

Partial matches will show properties where some of the requirements are met.

Do you live in a YHN home?

Is your home too big or too small for your needs?

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Step three - Arranging your move What do you need to do?

You and the other party need to visit each other’s home to make sure you like the properties and definitely want to go ahead. if you do want to go ahead following your viewing go back to ‘Your Shortlist’ on Tyne and Wear Homes and approve the nomination for each other on your mutual exchange application.

If Your Homes Newcastle is the landlord for both parties we will complete our landlord approvals steps for each party. If we are the landlord for only one party the other person’s landlord will complete their landlord approvals and we must wait for them to do this.

What else?

A Housing Options Officer and a Maintenance Inspector will come out to see you. We will check your home for any repairs which may need to be carried out and talk to you about the legalities of moving and taking up a new tenancy.

If you are not able to move at this point we will tell you in writing why you can’t and what you can do to change this so that you can move in future.

If you are able to move we will write to you and tell you that you can go ahead with your swap.

Step four - The swap What do you need to do?

Once it has been agreed that both parties can move, you must arrange this between yourselves for a time and date that suits you both. You should advise your Housing Options Officer of this date, so they can prepare the paperwork which you will need to sign. This is called a Deed of Assignment.

What else?

Once you have moved, make sure you come into your local office on the first working day after the exchange to sign the Deed of Assignment. It is very important to that you sign this document; otherwise you technically aren’t the new tenant of the home you have moved to. If the other party is also a Your Homes Newcastle tenant, you could complete this process at the same time.