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You know the routine. You log on, sign up and then scroll though the ads, scanning the descriptions and judging the photos. Should you go for the “gorgeous European” or the “generously proportioned American”? Or perhaps you are the “London beauty” who has just found her “Paris match”. All the time, you are looking for the one you really fancy, the one that might just turn out to be The One.
These are not websites for lonely hearts, they’re for people in search of holiday homes. And free holiday homes at that. That’s right, free. A villa in Valencia? Yours for nothing. A palace in Pacific Palisades? To you, zilch. An apartment overlooking Sydney harbour? Have the soft-top in the garage, too.
The catch? Well, there is one little thing. While you’re indulging in your new pad, quietly congratulating yourself on having blagged an entire holiday for the price of the flights, back home your own place is under siege. Someone else’s son is running riot through your kitchen, his elder sister has pawned your television and the scoundrels’ parents are taking crowbars to your cat, having already written off your car.
At least, if you’re the anxious type, that’s what could be going through your head: a house exchange isn’t for everyone.
“Some people find it difficult to get their head around having someone else in their home,” says Lois Sealey of Home Base, one of the main house-swap agencies in the UK. “You’ve got to be the sort of person who is relatively relaxed — the sort who believes in trust.”
Put simply, house-swapping works on the principle that if you are on holiday, your own home is empty. While it is, someone else may as well use it. And that someone might as well be from a place that you want to go — whose own house will be empty for you to use.
The most obvious advantage of this kind of holiday is financial, and the savings can be vast. For example, a family of five seeking a fortnight in a Tuscan villa in July 2005 could opt to pay £1,260 for the three- bedroom Podere Il Cocco, outside Siena (www.rare-tuscany.co.uk), excluding flights. Alternatively, they could bag a four-bedroom villa with pool in the same region for nothing by house-swapping through Home Base Holidays (ref: HE15506). The family’s only outlay would be the £29 agency fee. Swap cars, too, as many home- exchangers do, and a holiday can cost less than a quarter of the price of the same trip with a rented property and vehicle. Renting a Renault Mégane in Tuscany with Holiday Autos would set you back £456 for two weeks.
“Quite simply, house swapping means that we can afford to take more holidays”, explains Rod Hirst, a retired teacher who, with his wife Mary, has done 26 swaps in all. “And when we are on holiday, we can afford to do more things. We’ve taken a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and an island-hopping trip around the Whitsundays — both using money saved by having free accommodation”.
For others, it’s about more than simply saving money. Jon and Ann Rebak from London did their first swap this summer, exchanging their north London house for a place in northern California. “It went extremely well,” says Jon. “We used their home only for a few days at the beginning and the end of what was mainly a touring trip, but the time in the house was definitely the most relaxing. It can get exhausting staying in small motel rooms with a family. In the house, we weren’t tripping over each other in the same way. We could relax.”
John and Marie Hennessey from Ballinglanna, near Cork, go further still: “When you swap houses, you are parachuted straight into a community. Neighbours and friends of the family you’ve swapped with show you around. You can avoid the tourist traps, cut to the chase and have a much more fulfilling holiday than if you are staying in anonymous hotels.”
Increasingly, too, people are being more adventurous about the kind of swaps they set up. For their four-month trip to Australia, Margaret and Ron Fox from Ashford, Kent, arranged three consecutive house exchanges: in Adelaide, Perth and Mooloolaba, in Queensland. “A relative sorted out the handovers this end,” says Margaret, “while we had a three-base holiday in Oz.”
So, what holds most people back? The “what ifs”, of course. What if your swapees burn your house down? What if they steal your car? What if they smash your favourite sculpture? What if they simply pull out at the last minute?
These are justifiable concerns, admits Caroline Connolly of HomeLink, another of the house-swap agencies, “but they are all much, much rarer than people imagine”. “What you have to remember is that while they are in your home, you are in theirs. People do as they would be done by.” Although the home-exchange agencies don’t vet potential swappers, they do operate a monitoring system. “It doesn’t happen often, but if we get more than one bad report about someone, or a single serious complaint, we’ll strike them off the list. We don’t wait for people to burn a house down before taking action.”
Complaints are rare, and relate more to different standards of cleanliness than anything else. “In 51 years of trading, we have never had a known incidence of theft,” claims Rhona Nayar of Intervac. “Usually, the worst that happens is a plate gets smashed or a spatula burnt” — and nine times out of 10, the culprit will replace even that.
One indication that Nayar is not exaggerating comes from the relaxed approach of insurance companies to home exchange. Direct Line says that as long as the company is notified in advance and agrees that the incoming occupants are a “like-for-like” risk — pro- fessionals swapping with professionals, for example — property and contents will be covered for the duration of the exchange, even if incoming swappers damage or even steal items in your home. Others, including Churchill, will continue to cover all losses incurred as a result of forced entry.
On the whole, insurance companies are pleased that your house will be occupied while you’re away — it makes burglary less likely. Similarly, most car-insurance firms will cover a new driver for free or for a nominal charge, providing they are told of plans in advance.
Even so, it’s worth adopting a cautious approach. Here is our step-by-step guide to setting up your swap:
Get swapping
1 Sign up with a reputable home-exchange agency. The most established in the UK are Intervac (01249 461101, www.intervac.co.uk), HomeLink (01962 886882, www.homelink.org.uk) and Home Base Holidays (020 8482 4258, www.homebase-hols.com). Intervac has 12,000 members worldwide and charges £65 a year for membership; HomeLink has 14,000 members and charges £95; Home Base has 3,000 and charges £29. You’ll find other agencies online that make no charge, but you should exercise caution — do you really want to entrust your home to people who aren’t prepared to make even a minimal financial commitment at the outset?
2 Use the site’s search engines to find suitable properties to swap with and start making offers by e-mail and phone. Alternatively, wait for offers to come to you. If you live in a tourist hot spot — London, Bath, Edinburgh, Dublin and Oxford are particular favourites — you’ll be inundated.
3 Draw up a shortlist and ask for past references from anyone you feel unsure about.
4 Commit to a property and exchange further information with its owners by e-mail.
5 Draw up a pre-swap agreement, with details of what to do if something gets broken, who pays the bills, whether cars are included in the swap and whether you are expected to look after any pets.
6 Agree to book your air, train or ferry tickets on the same day, then send details to your exchange partner proving that you have. This will reassure both parties that financial commitments have been made and that neither plans to pull out.
7 Contact your insurance companies and let them know your plans. Take out any extra insurance if necessary.
8 Clean and tidy your house, lock particularly valuable items away and put together a welcome pack of information about the house and the area. Before departing for your holiday, leave keys with a neighbour who can greet your visitors. Even better, arrange to overlap with your swapping partners so that you can meet face to face.
The perfect pad?
THE MAJORITY of member properties are in western Europe, America or Australia, but Latin America, Asia and especially eastern Europe are growing fast. Here is a selection:
Prague: a three-bedroom apartment bang in the Old Town; overlooking the Vltava, it has high ceilings, oak floors and crystal chandeliers. The owners are open to any offers. (Home Base Holidays ref: HE15103)
South Australia: a four-bedroom house that backs onto the Lower Murray River. Use of a sailing yacht is included. The owners are interested in swaps anywhere in Britain. (HomeLink ref: AU8998)
Montana: a five-bedroom log cabin on the shores of Cliff Lake, near Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies. Comes with use of bikes and a boat. (Homelink ref: US19760)
Panama: a three-bedroom beachfront house with grounds stretching along half a mile of the Caribbean coast. The owners want a European exchange. (HomeLink ref: ES0221)
New Zealand: a luxury four-bedroom farmhouse with a private walkway to a river and beach area, near the Kiwi adventure-sports capital, Queenstown. Its owners favour an exchange in Scotland. (Home Base Holidays ref: HE12830)
Brittany: a beautiful five-bedroom house in the Breton countryside, with a large swimming pool and the use of a car. The coast is 30 miles away. The owners will consider any exchange offers. (Intervac ref: FR010194) |
