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  5. Council tenant services
  6. Moving home for council tenants

Christmas and new year opening times and services

Find out our opening times and service changes over Christmas and New Year holidays. This includes changes to bin collection days, parking and customer contact centre opening hours.

Islington Town Hall will be closed from Thursday 2 to Monday 6 January 2025 for planned maintenance. Registrar services will be reopen on Monday 6 January 2025.

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Swapping homes

Find out how to swap homes with another tenant - called a 'mutual exchange' - so you can move into a new home faster.

The fastest way to move is often by finding another tenant who would like to swap homes with you. This is called a ‘mutual exchange’.

You can swap your home with another council or housing association tenant in Islington, London or anywhere else in the United Kingdom. You do not need to be on a transfer list or have any points to do this.  

HomeSwapper

HomeSwapper is for council or housing association tenants only.  

How to use HomeSwapper

The HomeSwapper website helps you find an exchange partner for you to swap with anywhere in the United Kingdom.

HomeSwapper is free for Islington Council tenants. Some housing association tenants may have to pay a small fee to register.

  1. Register with HomeSwapper.
  2. Search for swaps. HomeSwapper will search for new swaps for you and save your matches - log in to see them.
  3. Set up match alerts so you can get new swaps by email or text message to your phone.
  4. Contact the person who is living in the property you are interested in yourself to make viewing arrangements.
  5. When you have found a property you're happy with, click on 'Found a swap' and follow the instructions.

Contact the mutual exchange team on 020 7527 4140 if you do not have a HomeSwapper account.

We can refuse permission for a swap if:

  • it would make a household overcrowded or your home would be too big for you
  • you owe rent or have broken your tenancy agreement in any other way.

Help with finding a home to swap with

Smart Move Scheme

The Smart Move Scheme helps to match Islington Council tenants in overcrowded properties with other Islington Council tenants that have empty bedrooms (known as 'under-occupiers'), so that they can then swap homes with each other.

If the mutual exchange is agreed, the under-occupying tenant may be able to get a grant of £2,500.

Contact the mutual exchange team on 020 7527 4140 and choose option 3 to find out if you're eligible.

For more information

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