What are your legal rights?
An exchange is where tenants agree to swap properties and tenancies. Tenants may, with the consent of the neighbourhood housing manager, exchange their home with another LMH tenant or a tenant of:
- Another housing association
- A private landlord
- A local council
The other tenant must have written permission from their landlord first. All parties must have written permission from LMH.
If you were a tenant when your home transferred to LMH from Liverpool City Council, you may have an assured tenancy with protected rights.
If you decide to exchange with another housing association or private tenant, you will no longer have the protection granted under the stock transfer process.
For example, if you exchange with a housing association tenant, your new tenancy will normally be assured under the Housing Act 1988. This means you may lose certain rights which you have (for example, the preserved right to buy your home).
You should also be aware that if you exchange with tenants of other landlords, you may be faced with higher rent and council tax and incur additional service charges. You should check these details carefully before you apply.
When you exchange you are also swapping your tenancy rights for those of the person you are exchanging with. This is not the same as a new tenancy.
There are a limited number of reasons why
we may refuse to approve an exchange application. Our main reasons for
refusing are covered later in this section.
Illegal exchanges
If you exchange without our written approval, you and the person you have exchanged with will become ‘illegal occupants’. This means you will not have any legal right to live in the property you have moved to. In these circumstances, we and the other landlord or landlords involved may take legal action to force you to return to your original home or in some circumstances we may evict you.
Please note
If you have a temporary tenancy or an introductory tenancy granted under the terms of the Housing Act 1996, you do not have the right to exchange.
