Two couples decide to swap homes permanently

Mortgages and Home

26 December 2017 | 2 Comments

Two couples have agreed to permanently swap homes in a rare move on the property market.

A young family looking for a home with more space have ended up swapping homes with a couple who wanted to downsize.

David West and his wife Margaret listed their three-bedroom detached family home in Kinross on the HouseSimple website in May. Their hope was to sell their house so they could downsize.

Meanwhile, John Davie and his wife Kelly were looking for a bigger home for them and their two-year-old daughter Lucy.

Mr Davie, a data analyst, booked to see Mr West’s house and, during the viewing, Mr West mentioned that he and his wife were hoping to downsize because their two adult children were moving out.

Mr Davie then said that he had a two-bedroom semi-detached house that they hadn’t put on the market yet.

Mr West thought that house might be right for him and his wife so suggested a house swap.

After they had seen Mr Davie’s house both parties agreed to a house swap and made offers on each other’s homes.

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The West's new home, after they swapped with the Davie's (Image: PA)

An exterior view of David and Margaret West's new home previously owned by the Davie family 

“The house swap allowed us flexibility on the move date and enabled us to solve moving-in issues such as finding the stopcock when I needed to isolate the water in the bathroom, and the knack to locking the patio door,” says Mr West.

The two couples officially swapped homes on 12 October this year.

“The house swap made perfect sense as both our properties had what the other wanted,” says Mr Davie.

What is involved in a house swap?

If you happen to know someone who wants to swap homes with you then the great thing with a swap is you can avoid paying any estate agent fees. But, you will still need to use solicitors to make sure everything is legally binding.

You also need to decide if it is a straight swap or, if one house is worth more than the other, will money need to change hands too. If money does change hands then there might be tax implications in the swap, as the person handing over cash may also have to pay stamp duty.

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