The Complete Guide To: Home swaps

Why would I want a complete stranger to take a holiday in my home?

Because you'll be on holiday in their house. Picture this: you are in Australia, having taken advantage of cheap air fares and enjoying a barbecue and a beer on a little-known beach with the locals. You stroll back to an inviting, cosy family home just after sunset, and it feels as though you have lived there forever.

This is the idea behind home-swap holidays: you get in contact with another family and agree to live in each other's house or flat for a week, a fortnight or longer, saving a fortune and probably having a better time than you would otherwise. As Lois Sealey of Home Base Holidays (homebase-hols.com), one of the leading UK agencies, says, the system enables you to "get to know an area by living in it, not staying in a hotel".

Home-swapping can help you to get to know the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the host country and the people who live there. You can immerse yourself in a different local culture – all while staying rent-free, and with the confidence that your home has not been left empty.

Exchanging properties became established around 25 years ago. In 2009, the UK's biggest home-swap company, Home Link (homelink. org.uk), expects to organise more than 13,000 exchanges. Long-haul trips to the US and Canada are less popular at the moment, with more people from the UK opting for holidays within Europe. Caroline Connolly, business manager of Home Link, says the top destinations for families are Spain and France, while cities such as Berlin and Rome are also very popular.

If you're not into run-of-the-mill holidays, she also has homes in Vietnam, Senegal, Oman and the Reunion Islands on her books. While summer is the main swapping season, there are winter opportunities in skiing areas and southern-hemisphere countries, as well as spring and autumn options, particularly in cities.

How do I swap?

The easiest place to find people who want to exchange properties is online. There are numerous home-swap agencies that have a website where you can browse details and photographs of properties waiting to be swapped in your desired location. These include Home Link, Home Base Holidays and Intervac (intervac.co.uk). Many of these websites charge a membership fee, between £25 and £115 for one year, but most allow you to view the properties before becoming a member. Fees usually include one listing and a fixed number of photos, with further charges for additional listings and photos.

If you have your heart set on the US, it's worth signing up with one of the big American agencies, such as Home Exchange (homeexchange. com). Aside from agencies, you can also plan a house swap through a private organisation, such as a teachers' group, but bear in mind that you won't receive the help and information that is provided by an agency. For example, Home Link has local advisers based in the majority of the countries in which it has properties listed.

Does a bedsit in Stoke-on-Trent equal a beachside villa in Malibu?

Possibly. The swap is not permanent, so there is no need for properties to be the same size or value. Generally, swappers are simply looking for a practical base from which they can explore. A house on the M25 might be a nightmare for some people, but for those who plans a series of day visits in South-east u oEngland by road, this could be a bonus.

The properties available at the moment vary in size from six-bedroom houses to small one-bedroom apartments, so you should be able to find something that suits you.

So, what do I do?

Get to work now: the busiest time of the year for UK swappers to set up trips is between January and March. First you need to provide the agency with details about your home. You must, of course, be scrupulously honest when giving a description of your property, its facilities and location. Crucially, you need to say when and where you want to travel, so that other people searching for a home swap can narrow their search.

After your details have been listed, you can either search for a home you would like to stay in, or sit back and wait for them to contact you.

House-swap agencies operate in a similar way to dating agencies in that they help you to meet, but the rest is down to you. Therefore, after an agency has helped you to connect, the planning and details of the swap are your responsibility, so preparation is the key. The more correspondence you have with your exchange partner before hand, the more successful it should be.

Once you hook up with a suitable partner, you will need to thrash out all the vital details between you – notably, the timing. Often, particularly for North American exchanges, swappers may never meet – they will pass each other flying in the opposite direction.

Decide on house rules (eg "sensitive neighbours, so no noise after 10pm; the bedroom with the red door is out of bounds..."), and establish a policy on who will pay for any damages caused.

Another good idea is to agree to leave some food in the fridge for each other so that you can both make a basic meal when you arrive. Also on the agenda: phone calls. It is important to make sure you know who is paying for the landline at either end of the house swap.

A large element of trust is involved in booking flights. With no commercial organisation directly involved, if one party fails to go through with the deal, then the other side is unlikely to be able to claim compensation. So it will be taken as a sign of good faith on both sides if you can synchronise the booking of your flights.

What can I expect?

A swap home should be clean, comfortable and as described in the listing. If it isn't, there is little you can do besides complain to the agency so that any future swappers are not equally disappointed.

Do we swap cars as well?

Many do, but before you make the agreement, check that your insurance policy allows your exchange partner to drive your car – if an extra premium is charged, sort out who will pay. You also need to establish restrictions on the use of the car.

Can I trust them?

This is probably the biggest worry for people, and unfortunately there are no absolute guarantees. Caroline Connolly, of Home Link, describes members of her agency as "decent, generous, honest and trustworthy", and says that some exchange partners remain lifelong friends.

Generally, there are very few complaints made about theft and damage. In fact, according to Lois Sealey, of Home Base Holidays, her firm has had only one complaint about theft since it began in 1985 – and that turned out to be a misunderstanding. You should also remember that insurance companies generally take the view that it is better to have someone staying in your house than to leave it empty.

Insurance implications

Inform your insurance company of the swap. Most home policies will cover an exchange, with the other party regarded as guests invited into your home. However, you must take into consideration that thefts from your home may not be covered if there is no evidence of forced entry. If the people staying in your house are lucky enough to live in an area where crime is non-existent, you may need to give them a thorough briefing on security precautions.

Generally, most insurance companies (and also the police) do prefer a house to be lived in by someone, rather than it just being left empty.

'House-swapping appeals to families'

Sam Redfern, 38, a crime analyst from Greenwich, went on his first home swap in November with his wife and their three-year-old daughter

"We went to Lille in November to do some Christmas shopping. Our exchange was for two nights in a slightly dodgy suburb, but it was really nice. We paid for the Eurotunnel and the rest was free – except for the Home Link fee, which was £115, and we are hoping to use that again this year. In fact, we are almost ready to exchange for a house in Spain.

"Since joining, I have had 15 to 20 offers of swaps that we weren't interested in, either because we couldn't afford it or the timing wasn't right. There is no shortage of offers, so the charge was definitely worth it.

"We decided to house swap because it is relatively stress-free – and I am quite nosy: I wanted to see what CDs they had!

"The family we swapped with left two-thirds of a fridge full of food for us and two bottles of wine. Their family was bigger than ours. We didn't meet them, but we did speak to them on the phone and through emails. If we had done a two-week swap, it might have been nice to meet them.

"The good things about house-swapping are the low cost and the ease. For Lille, it was just as easy as booking a hotel. Arranging two weeks in Spain has been more difficult – it has taken about two months. Maybe that's because of the economic climate and people want to do things more cheaply.

"There were no bad points to our house swap. It helps if you are super-careful because you are in someone else's house, especially with a little child. That was a bit nerve-wracking at times. But there can be problems if you stay in a hotel as well. It was all fairly smooth.

"When I told people about the house swap, they said, 'Wow, you're brave. What if they nick something?' But I haven't exactly got a house full of jewels and cash, so that didn't really bother me at all.

"In general, I think house-swapping appeals more to families, but there are some fantastic apartments for young couples in New York and Dubai, so it could be for everyone. I think the main problem with house-swapping is that people don't really know about it. I probably told 30 or 40 people, but hardly any of them had heard about it. They had heard of the concept, but not the companies.

"One final tip: make sure that you make your house look attractive in the photograph. You need to have good-quality photos of the property because you are 'selling' it, after all. You want to draw people in."

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