12 FAQs

  • I'm a landlord, can I add properties for sale?

    No. This website is purely for house exchanges and rental properties.

  • Where can I add my Avatar?

    We use avatars from Gravatar.com. If you have an email address registered there with a profile image, it will automatically show on your posts here if you use the same email address.

  • How is this website free?

    We rely on advertising and Featured listings. Our server costs are considerable, so we may not be able to offer free listings forever, but we ask that our members and visitors disable their ad-blockers to help us to keep it free for as long as possible! 🙂

  • I accidentally joined as an exchange member, can I change my account type?

    If you signed up with account type as ‘Landlord’ or ‘Exchange Member’ and want to change it to the other, please contact us and we will change your account type manually.

  • How do I contact someone about a property?

    There are two ways to let someone know you are interested in their offer: publicly or privately.

    To post a public message, perhaps for someone who may be interested in a multi-way exchange, simply reply to the post by using the comments section underneath it.

    To send a private message, use the contact details the poster has provided, or the private messaging system. Both can be found at the end of each post.

  • How do we go about exchanging once we've agreed on moving?

    All parties involved need to contact their landlords, either the council or housing association they are renting from. Keep in touch with each other throughout the process, and keep each other informed of any communications about the exchange from either landlord.

    Your landlord should then be able to give you instructions as to how to proceed.

    Please note that you will need to be up to date with your rent, and your house should be in good repair. Most landlords will hold you responsible for any damage incurred by the previous tenant.

    Make sure you visit each other’s houses at least once, in a safe and sensible way. Check out the surrounding areas and, if possible, see if you can find out about the crime rate and what any neighbours are like.

  • What is a multi-way exchange?

    Supposing you live in Sunderland want to exchange your house for another in London. However, the one you want in London will only consider an exchange to Leeds. You find an exchange property in Leeds who would like to be in Sunderland.

    Between the three members, you would be able to work out suitable arrangements so you all get what you want.

  • How do I post a featured exchange?

    Once logged in, choose ‘Add A Property’ from the top menu. At the bottom of the form, there will be an option to feature the post. If you choose ‘Yes’, you will be taken to the payment processor page. Once your payment has been made, click the link to return here to activate your post.

    Featured posts are shown at the top of the homepage for 90 days.

    You can edit your post at any time if you'd like to upgrade your listing, but the payment will only cover however long your listing has left. It won't reset the post to the beginning of the 90 days,

  • Why are listings only for 1 year?

    Most people post their exchanges on more than one website and often forget to delete their posts when they successfully negotiate an exchange. This means that lots of space and bandwidth is taken up by listings that are no longer relevant. However, if you still haven't found an exchange partner by the time your post expires, you can post it again. 🙂

  • How can I keep my E&R account secure?

    There are ways to keep your website accounts secure, no matter which website you use. It's always best not to use the same login combinations, i.e. username/email along with the same password, on more than one website. Hackers steal and sell information from websites, and then they go on to try and use the logins to access accounts on other sites using the same credentials.

    Where possible, use a very strong password with a combination of letters, capitals, numbers, and special characters. You can find a strong password generator here.

    It's not easy remembering lots of different passwords, though, so a password manager may be the way to go: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-password-manager

    Also, if any site has an option to secure your logins with 2-factor authentication, as this one does, please activate it. It's a bit of a hassle, but more than worth it as you need to add a code each time you login to make sure no-one else can access your account. You can access these security settings from your forum account page.

  • I know someone who wants to post, but they don't have access to the internet

    If at all possible, we much prefer exchange posts to be made by the person exchanging. Many public libraries have free computers with internet access, where anyone can sign up for a Gmail or other email address, and access our website.

    However, in the event that this is not possible and the person cannot create an E&R account, you may post for that person, provided you have their full permission, and you state in the post that the exchange is for someone else.

    Once someone shows an interest in that particular exchange, you need to pass on the interested party's contact details to the person you have posted for, so they can negotiate the exchange themselves, if they are able to do so.

  • What size property can I apply for?

    Since the introduction of the so-called 'bedroom tax', the rules for house occupancy have changed considerably. Most councils and housing associations will not allow you to exchange if you will be classed as 'underoccupied'. How many bedrooms you qualify for are determined by how many people will be in the house and their ages. For example:

    • 1 person - 1 bedroom property
    • 2 people (couple) - 1 bedroom property
    • 2 people (single / parent and child) - 2 bedroom property
    • 3 people - 2-3 bedroom property*
    • 4 /5 people - 2-3 bedroom property

    Parents/ couples are entitled to 1 room, and where they have just one child, they will be entitled to nothing bigger than a 2 bedroom property. In addition to the parents' room entitlement, *siblings are expected to share a room as per below, therefore entitlement differs;

    • Sisters under the age of 16 (entitled to 1 room)
    • Brothers under the age of 16 (entitled to 1 room)
    • Brother and Sister, both under the age of 10 (entitled to 1 room)
    • Brother (11) and Sister (7) (entitled to 2 rooms)

    *Up to 2 siblings per room

    If you are in a social housing property with more bedrooms that you are entitled to, you will be subject to pay bedroom tax, or have his deducted from your housing benefit which is 14% of your rent. New court rulings mean that disabled tennents will be exempt from this charge, allowing an extra room for their carer.

    In the end, sometimes it comes down to how flexible the landlords are, as you can see here.

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