The government have annouced that almost 6,000 people a day are searching for social homes to swap on a government website.

The Communities and Local Government department announced that the Home Swap Direct scheme has attracted almost 1.5 million searches since it was launched in October 2011. The scheme allows social tenants to search for homes available to swap throughout the country, allowing them to move to a more suitable home, or nearer to family.

Home Swap Direct allows tenants to look outside the service provided by their own landlord and be given a choice about where they live. Previously, tenants wanting to move were restricted to swapping properties through a scheme chosen by their landlord – effectively meaning only a partial swap scheme existed.