About Joining
Overfiftieshouseswap is free to join; the only cost is a charge of £45 for each party when a swap has been agreed. Joining is simple and we look forward to having you as a member.
Just send a short description of your house, the name of the nearest town, and some photos to contact@overfiftieshouseswap.com and if your home is accepted you will receive a link to the registration page. For more information about joining please read on.
By adding your property to the house exchange list you will help to build something truly exciting. You will be able to advertise your home for exchange, contact fellow members, and receive email enquiries via the website. All this can be done without disclosing your personal details to another until you choose to do so.
It is essential to the quality of the Overfiftieshouseswap network that homes are well presented and maintained. There is no need for the house to be large or grand in any way, but it should show a degree of style, interest and comfort. Where a house is situated is also a consideration.
If your property is clean and well maintained, attractive, stylish, quirky or interesting, and in a place people would like to visit we really want you as a member.
What happens when you join?
If your house fits the criteria, you will be asked to fill in details of your property which will be displayed on the site. This is straightforward but if you have problems let us know via the contact button and we will help. If you are not able to upload photography of your house, you can email jpegs to contact@overfiftieshouseswap.com and it will be done for you.
Although your personal details will be maintained on the data base during your membership, your name, telephone number, email address and full postal address will not be on the site; you can provide these when you make arrangements to house swap with another member. Anyone can log on to the site to see the properties available but only members will have the ability to make contact. When a message is sent from one member to another, the receiving member's personal email inbox will show an Overfiftieshouseswap alert informing them of contact on the site.
Registering Overfiftieshouseswap members are also asked to provide a short personal profile so that those with whom they may wish to house swap have a basic knowledge of their potential swapee on which to form a relationship of trust. This can include hobbies and areas of personal interest such as rambling, walking, golf, bird watching, visiting gardens or National Trust houses etc.
Payment is only required when a swap is agreed between members. For security, all Overfiftieshouseswap payments are processed through Pay Pal. For this reason members will be required to open a Pay Pal account, but this can be cancelled at any time if you decide not to retain your membership. The padlock sign indicates that you are in a safe zone in which to share your card details.
Once your house appears on the site, you are ready to consider house swapping. Please note that contacting a fellow Overfiftieshouseswap member to gauge interest does not constitute a house exchange offer and no commitment is made until both house swap parties are happy to proceed.
The site hosts a guidance page on how to go about preparing for a house swap, something which should become automatic after the first few times. You will also have access to a check list which you can share directly with your "swapee". This involves practical arrangements and the idea is that both parties agree to do the same thing for each other. Members are encouraged to add to the check list as they see fit.