In the 2006 cult film The Holiday, starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, two women exchange their homes and lives and find love in the process.
The Eve swap was a big break, but it’s actually been around since the 1950s. Teachers in New York and surrounding states are seen as starting the trend as they look for affordable ways to travel during their holidays.
This is on the rise as more and more people open their doors to like-minded individuals and allow them to stay for weeks or months for free in exchange for the same.
According to the HomeExchange platform, which has more than 150,000 members worldwide, home exchanges in the UK increased by 62 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, and by 53 percent globally.
Holiday accommodation can often be the most expensive part of a holiday or stay. For example, the average nightly cost of a double hotel room in Edinburgh this summer was £195, while in Paris it was £200, according to hotel search site Trivago.
But does the house change the answer?
Numerous websites, such as HomeLink and Guardian Home Exchange, connect interested parties around the world for an annual fee. Similar to online dating, homeowners create an online profile with a description of their property and lots of attractive photos, and two households move in at the same time.
Some sites also encourage their members to add other details, such as availability, places they want to visit, and conditions such as non-smokers only, whether children or pets are allowed, or whether plants need watering.
HomeExchange has star ratings from users, and HomeLink shows you how many exchanges members have completed. Guardian Home Exchange users can also list their “cleaning style” to give you an idea of the cleanliness level of their home.
Members are then free to message others on the website to inquire about the exchange and arrange details, including where to get keys and directions. There are also less formal arrangements, such as holiday home swap Facebook groups.
Business coach Sophy Dale, 50, saved at least £10,000 in total by carrying out six house swaps through Guardian Home Exchange. All of his family’s trips were during the peak school holidays and usually lasted 10 days or two weeks.
“The best part about moving house is that it’s like to live “Instead of being a tourist, being in a new place and having access to the things you have at home,” he says.
“Plus, the host family will often give you ‘insider’ information about the neighborhood and may let you borrow membership cards to museums and botanical gardens.”
But the downside is that you can’t change dates or plans to suit just you, so you have to work around the needs of two sets of families.
Dale, who lives in Edinburgh, says he felt compelled to make his first trade even though he was in the middle of a house move over the Easter holidays. The exchange with a couple in Lyon, France, had been arranged well before the move and Dale knew they were teachers so there was a term limit and his wife was pregnant so he couldn’t travel on the next holiday.
Dale and her husband James, 50, had moved out of their flat in central Edinburgh when the family arrived, but were unable to put it on the market until after their stay.
Dale adds: “A few days after the house swap in Lyon, the flat’s heating system broke down and the doorman was less than happy to deal with us Brits with lots of questions. “My husband, James, had just started his job as an IT contractor, so he was trying to work remotely and Wi-Fi wasn’t up to the job.”
But since then, Dale says he’s learned to be more selective. Unless the ad has lots of photos, is easy to get to by public transportation, and is somewhere he would pay to visit, he won’t consider an exchange; even if it isn’t.
Last summer the family stayed in a beautiful 17th-century country house at Ullapool in the Highlands. Dale says you have to book a place to stay in the area a year in advance during high season, although they can arrange it several months in advance.
They also stayed in a house on the Isle of Skye with a large terrace overlooking the sea, and in a spacious apartment in Dijon, France, where the loft was converted into two children’s bedrooms, a bathroom and a playroom.
“My daughter had all kinds of toys to play with, and the apartment would cost a fortune to rent,” says Dale.
On the home side, Dale says it took him a while to get used to having people in his home.
He always has a long video call with potential traders to get a feel for what they’re like and set expectations.
“Everyone took such good care of our home,” he says. Sometimes a glass breaks but it is always replaced. You’re not leaving out private information like bank statements or valuables; “We lock our own knowledge in the attic.”
Kate McConnell, who lives in a five-bedroom house in Dorset, has swapped more than 20 holiday homes with her husband Will, 57, and their three children, saving them tens of thousands of pounds.
McConnell, 59, says they have had mostly good experiences in England and Wales, including two stays in a semi-detached family house in Worthing, Sussex, next to the sea.
But the family decided to stay at someone’s holiday home in Scarborough, which had no handles on the doors or bedding. McConnell described it as “a little bit like a squat.” On another occasion they found themselves redecorating an immaculate house in Chester after the downstairs toilet accidentally flooded.
He says: “I don’t know what happened to us, but we didn’t mention anything to the family we traded with. We never heard anything except an email saying the house was perfect and how they let it go!
The couple heard about home swaps through antenatal classes run by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). At the time the charity operated its own home exchange register, which has since closed. Members were sent a brochure containing basic information such as names, addresses and phone numbers of other members. And when you wanted to arrange a home exchange, you just had to call a number and arrange it.
He adds: “House swapping is a curiously intimate experience and it was all about mutual trust and respect. There was no protection back then and we needed to make our children understand that we were guests in someone else’s home. But most people agreed, and it made us trust more rather than less. “
The McConnells stopped exchanging houses when their children were teenagers and their circumstances changed, but they may reconsider if the right opportunity arises.
What if things go wrong?
Like any holiday, a house swap isn’t perfect. While traveling through Spain and France last summer, Matt Albiges and his family arrived at a two-bedroom apartment in Montpellier, France, and found it absolutely filthy.
Albiges, 46, openly said that many people had stayed there before them. The beds were not clean, there were towels everywhere and the toilet was “terrible”.
She texted the landlord and asked where they could find clean sheets, but to no avail.
Since the family was only staying there for one night, they did their best. They then gave the homeowner one star rating on HomeExchange for cleaning.
And over Christmas, their host in Granada, Spain, canceled their stay three weeks before they were due to travel due to poor health. The Albiges, who live in Cardiff, had already spent £1,500 on flights so they had to find other options at the last minute. Luckily, they were able to find two properties that could accommodate their 10-day stay.
HomeExchange also allows you to give points to a homeowner to stay in their home (rather than having them stay in yours). Points are earned through hosting, so when the host canceled, Albiges was able to use them to get a free stay instead of paying for the hotel.
But these experiences did not put them off: The family plans to exchange homes with their hosts in Canada during the summer.
Home flipping platforms say it’s very rare for things to go wrong, but some have safeguards in place.
For example, HomeExchange, which costs £180 a year, says all members’ identities and home addresses must be verified. It also offers damage cover of up to $1 million (£787,690), cancellation protection, a compatibility guarantee if the home doesn’t match the initial description, and theft protection.
HomeLink, which launched in 1953 and costs £120 a year, does not cover theft or vandalism, which it says has never occurred among its members. Similarly, Guardian Home Exchange, which charges an annual fee of £59, has no compensation scheme. Instead, it offers members specialist insurance.
Mark Woloshak, head of litigation at law firm Howells, says if you’re not covered by the platform, you can still make a legal claim if your guests steal or damage your belongings, but it can be especially difficult to keep track of your belongings. resident abroad.
If the property is too unsafe to stay in when you arrive, the landlord is in breach of contract, and if you have to stay in a hotel, you may be able to make a claim for the expense, says Woloshak. You can also file a claim if the property does not live up to the description and the host cancels at the last minute if you have already purchased a flight.
If someone refuses to leave your home, Woloshak says you can contact the police to see if they can assist or instruct a bailiff and locksmith to enter the home and change the locks.
“Unless the value of the claim is more than £10,000 it will be assessed under the small claims section,” it says. “In addition to financial loss, a lawsuit can also be filed for loss of enjoyment if the property is inadequate and not as described, or if the host family cancels at the last minute.”
He recommends using reputable platforms with comprehensive verification processes such as background checks and avoiding unofficial communication channels such as text, WhatsApp or social media. Woloshak also recommends checking your home insurance policy to see if your insurance is affected by your home trade-in.
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