HOUSING association tenants are using an online ‘dating agency’ to find their ideal homes.

Vale Housing Association, which owns one in 10 of all homes in the Vale of White Horse, is the first housing association to join the national HomeSwapper scheme.

The online service enables association tenants to enter details of the things they are looking for in a new home.

The tenants then swap homes with other people looking to move.

One hundred and fifty of Vale’s 6,300 tenants are already registered with HomeSwapper, resulting in about 70 moves a year.

Kelly and Lee Collett, originally from East Challow, went online to find a house nearer to a specialist school for their son Kade, four.

They moved to Wantage three weeks later. Mrs Collett, 23, explained: “We think Kade may be autistic and might need to attend a specialist school, so we needed a house near to the school he might attend.

“We had a three bedroom house in East Challow which is a lovely, quiet village but it would have been very difficult to take Kade to school, as neither my husband Lee or I drive.

“We went on to the HomeSwapper site, put our details in and then we were inundated with calls.

“A lot of people wanted to move to Challow because it is so quiet, but it wasn’t until we spoke to Clayton and Terri Gibbs that we found a house we wanted in Wantage.

“They came and saw our house a few times and we visited theirs, we agreed to swap and then Vale took over the arrangements.

“We were amazed we’d found a house so quickly, just by going on the Internet.”

Mrs Gibbs, 30, her 28-year-old husband and their three children also hailed the scheme a success.

Mrs Gibbs said: “We’re really pleased with our new house.”

Kevin Tromp, 34, from Botley, used HomeSwapper to find a new home in London and will shortly be handing over his keys to a woman called Rosemary.

Mr Tromp, from Noble’s Close, said: ”It has been great because we have found the property there and we know we have helped a young family to find a new home here.”

Rosemary Smith, 40, said: “We will be moving from a flat in a built up area to a leafy street in Oxford and that will be lovely.”

Jacqui Hepher, 56, is a Vale tenant and vice-chairman of the association's tenants board.

She said: “I’ve been through the HomeSwapper scheme with a fine toothcomb and I can honestly say that for housing association tenants it offers nothing but advantages.

“Basically, if you meet the criteria – in that you are not arrears, or in breach of your tenancy agreement – then you can simply register with HomeSwapper.

“You are then approved and then you enter what can best be described as a ‘dating agency’ for properties.”