FANCY a week in a villa in Florida or a cabin in the Swiss Alps but can't afford peak season prices charged by holiday companies? Then home exchange may be for you.
The idea behind home exchange or home swapping schemes is that two households who have never met stay in each other's homes at the same time for free, a concept demonstrated by Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz in the hit film The Holiday. All you have t
o pay is the cost of travel to your destination and day-to-day expenses during your stay.
Although the concept of home exchange has been around for some time, the internet has made the process quicker and simpler. To get started, your first step should be to register with an agency, which normally costs between £30 and £115 a year.
You will need to provide details about your property and photographs. The details should include its location, size, how many people can comfortably sleep there, whether you have children, and if you have a garden and/or pets to look after.
When you've done this you can start to get in touch with other potential exchangers, usually by e-mail, and other people will now be able to contact you too. When you've found someone you want to swap with, most agency websites include a sample 'holiday agreement' form which can be adapted for your needs – anything from the specific dates of the swap to how many times a day you need someone to walk the dog.
HomeLink is one of the biggest home exchange websites and boasts 1,200 members in the UK, including about 150 in Scotland, and more than 13,500 members in 73 countries. While the majority of these are in the main tourist destinations such as Europe and North America, there are increasing numbers of members in more unusual places such as Vietnam, Hong Kong and Dubai.
"HomeLink members are by nature honest, trustworthy, decent, generous people and that's what makes home exchanging so successful," says Caroline Connolly, director of HomeLink.
"It's much more like going to stay at a friend's house than renting a holiday cottage, with little touches like a bottle of wine in the fridge or flowers in the bedroom making the difference."
Although having strangers stay in your home might seem like a daunting prospect, most home swappers rave about their experiences, with many repeating the process time and time again.
"Most members get to know their exchange partners very well as there is usually quite a lot of communication before the exchange while the details are sorted out. We've even heard of children becoming penfriends with the exchange partner's children," says Connolly.
The financial benefits of home exchanges are obvious. A family room in a Florida hotel will set you back around £700 for a two-week break, for example. A home swap wipes out this cost entirely and you only need to pay for your flights.
Home exchange website Home Base Holidays points out that swappers can also save money on eating out and food bills. The site adds that car hire and insurance will normally set holidaymakers back around £300 a week, but if a car is included in the swap, swappers can avoid this cost.
However, you need to make sure the visiting family are insured to drive your car – something that can easily be done by calling your insurer and adding them as a named driver to your policy.
Ashton Berkhauer of comparison website uSwitch.com says that how much this will cost will depend on the driver you're adding on. "If it's an 18-year-old that has just learnt to drive you'll pay a lot more than if it's a 50-year-old couple that have been driving for years," he says.
The obvious downside to home swapping is that someone else will be living in your home, sleeping in your bed and potentially damaging your property. However, as you are staying in their home at the same time most swaps go without a hitch.
"All the UK agencies we spoke to told us that serious complaints were few and far between. Those they do receive are generally down to incompatible cleaning standards," said consumer group Which? when it looked into holiday exchanges earlier this year.
"If things do go seriously wrong, the agency will act as a go-between. However, the exchange system is based on mutual trust, and the agency bears no legal responsibility. Members may be struck off if it is believed they have broken an agreement, or even abused the system, but that is of little comfort if you have a bad experience."
Another downside of home swapping is that your home insurer may not cover you for accidental damage, theft or vandalism while strangers are staying in your home. Insurer eSure confirms it wouldn't cover your building and its contents if swappers were staying in your home; a view uSwitch says is shared by most, if not all, insurance companies.
"The main reason is that accidental damage cover is there to cover damage to your property by your family and friends – such as wine accidentally being poured onto your television or smashed lighting if a game on the Wii became too animated," says an eSure spokesperson.
"It is not there to cover an eventually that has a definite outcome: if you allow a stranger to use your home then the likelihood of damage is almost certain. Friends and family will take due care in your home and with your belongings. People who don't know you have no reason to treat your personal property as if it were their own."
Exchange is as good as a restEMMA and Innes Chalmers live in West Lothian and have two children aged one and a half and three and a half. The family are about to do their third exchange, arranged through HomeLink.
Emma, a 36-year-old stay-at-home mum, says: "We have been house swapping for a couple of years and started doing it because it's a cheap way to go on a family holiday.
"We were also bored of going to touristy areas or hotels and wanted to do something a bit different."
Two years ago the family swapped homes with a family in Denmark. They briefly met them at the airport on the way home and, after months of e-mail correspondence and then living in their house for two weeks, greeted them like old friends.
Emma says: "They came back to Scotland on another swap and came round for a cup of tea. House swapping creates friendships."
The Chalmers have also been to Holland and Chester, and are exchanging homes with a family in Switzerland this summer.
Emma says:
"We haven't had any problems at all, although it's sensible to lock away any items you're particularly fond of."
