Moving home
If you are already one of our tenants and want to move home there are two options open to you.
HomeSwapper
We have signed up to the national HomeSwapper scheme. Homeswapper allows tenants of councils and housing associations right across the country to swap homes with one another.
All you have to do is register on the HomeSwapper website. Registration is free and once you have logged on, you will be able to search for a home to swap with yours.
Once you have found someone to swap homes with, you need to contact your area housing office.
In most cases we will not object to the swap. We will refuse permission if: you are on an assured shorthold (starter) tenancy, if you have rent arrears or are in some other way in significant breach of the terms and conditions of your Tenancy Agreement with us, or if the person you are swapping homes with is similarly in breach of the terms of the tenancy agreement they have with their current landlord.
You will move into the property in the condition in which the person you are swapping with left it. We will not carry out the work we would normally do when someone leaves a property.
HomeChoice
The other way you can move home is to register with South Gloucestershire Council’s choice-based lettings scheme, HomeChoice. You can register with the scheme by completing an online form from the HomeChoice website, or by contacting the council’s housing department on 01454 868005 and asking them to send you a form.
Once you are registered with HomeChoice you can bid for any of the homes that become available through any of the housing associations in South Gloucestershire.
Downsizing your Merlin home
Most of our homes have less than two bedrooms, but demand for family-sized properties of three or more bedrooms is high. To make sure we make the best use of our housing stock we offer an incentive scheme for our tenants who live in properties with three or more bedrooms to help reduce the cost of downsizing to a smaller home.
For more information about this scheme, contact your housing office.
Leaving your property
If you want to permanently move out of your Merlin home, there are some things you must to do and failure to do them could result in us charging you for additional rent (known as ‘use and occupation charges’) and/or the cost of repairs. You must:
- Write to us giving at least four weeks notice and your new address. Your tenancy must end on a Sunday. We will arrange an appointment with you to inspect your property before you move out to ensure it has been returned in good condition. We will let you know about any work you need to do before you hand in your keys.
- Return all your keys to your old home to us by 12noon on the Monday morning after your tenancy ends, unless an exit inspection has been arranged.
- Make sure that anyone else living with you moves out at the same time.
- Pay off you gas and electric bills in full and either return the meter keys to the housing office when you return your property keys, or leave them clearly visible in the property.
- Let your telephone and other utility suppliers know you are moving.
- Arrange for the redirection of your post
If you do not return all the keys we may charge you for replacing the keys and changing the locks.
Please leave your home clean and tidy and take all of your belongings with you. We do not accept responsibility for anything left in your home and we will charge you for the cost of any cleaning, decorating, clearance or repairs needed because you didn’t leave the property in a satisfactory condition.
You should also make sure that your rent payments are up-to-date. If you leave your property while still owing rent we will take action to recover this and any other money you might owe us, which might involve the use of an independent debt collection agency.
Contact your area housing office for a form if you wish to end you house or garage tenancy.
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