Housing association tenants in Fife can now swap homes with local authority tenants after Fife Housing Register Partners (FHR) revealed it is to join Fife Council’s online Home Swap system.

The announcement means tenants from Fife Council or one of our FHR partners (Kingdom Housing Association, Fife Housing Association, Ore Valley Housing Association, Glen Housing Association or Ochil View Housing Association) will now have easy access to find other tenants across Fife looking for a swap.

Since the system launched in September 2014, a total of 636 tenants have signed up to Home Swap with 16 tenants having successfully carried out an exchange.

Lee Verrall and Noella Wincott were the first successful tenants to use the online system after they swapped from a 1st floor flat to a ground floor flat in the same area.

Noella Wincott said: “It’s been amazing, everything went through quickly and was easy to do online. I struggle to get into an office so found it absolutely brilliant and I am happy and settled in my new home.”

Lee Verrall said: “It went quite easy and I am glad I signed up. The house I moved to is in the same street I was living in. Without Home Swap I would never have known someone so close was looking for a move. Anyone looking for a swap should sign up as you never know who else is looking.”

Councillor Judy Hamilton, the council’s executive spokesperson for housing & building services, said: “For our tenants, it can sometimes be very difficult when they are living in a house that is too small for their family or too big to manage as their family have grown and flew the nest. We are building new council homes, however, the demand is still large among our transfer tenants and Home Swap allows tenants an extra choice.

“I am delighted to have our Fife Housing Register partners join the Home Swap System. This will make this service even more accessible and will give many more tenants the opportunity to try and find a home that is right for them and make best use of our current stock.”

Anne Dickie, chair of Fife Housing Partnership, added: “Developing this approach for facilitating mutual exchanges across Fife helps all our tenants to be pro-active in looking for a house that best suits their needs – a great result for both tenants and landlords “

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