Refusal of a mutual exchange

buddy

Hi I live in a 3 bedroom house with my husband and  daughter ,I suffer with servere psoriasis,psoriatic arthritis,I have 2 disc protrusions and a collapsed vertebral due to a fall down the stairs in 2014 ,had a mri march 2017 which revealed this,  I also broke my cocstyx ,I have steps to my property and in the garden to get to the washing line ,my stairs are illegal the tread is too small my housing association replaced the top stair after going on and on at them my health is getting worse I don't go upstairs unless my husband is by me,I have slept in a recliner chair since my accident I now have osteoporosis too and shoulder impingment ,in december 2014 I had a wet room put through a disability grant which I am very grateful for but recently struggling with every day tackles I decided to do a home swap I have a 3 bed and wanted to downsize  to a 2 bed I found a swop just around the corner a family with 3 children under 6yrs mum and sleep in the lounge on a sofa bed their house was all flat no steps at all but my housing association refused me because of my wet room I wasnt asking for another wet room to be put in the other house people are crying out for bigger properties I have asked for the decision to be looked at again,is there anything else I can do and if anyone could help me please ,thank you.

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @buddy,

I'm really sorry to hear about your landlord's refusal to allow a mutual exchange. Unfortunately they are refusing on reasonable grounds. Shelter has information about Tenancy exchanges on their website and it states that:

When a landlord refuses permission for a tenancy exchange

Landlords can refuse permission for a tenancy exchange if there are reasonable grounds to do this.

Grounds for refusing a tenancy exchange include:

• your landlord has started eviction proceedings
• you work for your landlord and your home was provided in connection with your job
• your home is adapted for a person with special needs and nobody in the new tenant's household has those needs
• the home you want to move to is much larger than your household needs
• the home you want to move to is too small for your household and you would be overcrowded

Have you considered asking for a new Occupational Therapist's assessment to see if there are any further aids or adaptations that can be done at the property to help you manage better? I know you're probably very disappointed about the exchange but with a new OT assessment who knows what further help could be available. It might be possible that something can be done about the steps and improving access. 

If you need further advice, do let me know and I'm sorry that things haven't worked out the way you had hoped.

Best wishes

Debbie