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Apartment Exchanges (Swaps)

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Apartment Exchanges (Swaps)

Postby TenantNet » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:01 pm

Smoothing Vacation Exchanges
By JAY ROMANO
Published: April 11, 2004
New York Times

TRAVEL experts say that increasing numbers of people are looking into so-called home exchanges as a way to cut the cost of a vacationing both here and abroad.

With a home exchange, a homeowner or renter agrees to trade his or her living quarters with a like-minded person or family in a desired locale for a specific period of time. The people typically make contact through home-exchange services that allow those with homes or apartments to swap to list their accommodations either in catalogs or on an Internet site, typically for a nominal fee.

Once the would-be vacationers make contact, they are basically on their own to work out the details.

And while each party in such a transaction must ultimately make a leap of faith when entrusting their home to total strangers -- you will not know the condition of your home or apartment until you have returned and they have left -- those who run vacation exchange services say that complaints are rare and that most clients are so satisfied with their experience that they become serial swappers.

Still, there are steps that can be taken to help ensure a pleasant vacation exchange experience. At the same time, there may be some risks with such an exchange when the home you are trading is an apartment -- particularly a rent-regulated apartment or an apartment in a co-op.

''Ten years ago, we had a few thousand clients who used printed catalogs to identify potential vacation exchanges,'' said Josh Jaffe, a co-owner of Intervac, one of the oldest home-swapping services in the country. ''Now we have over 10,000 members in 52 countries who can communicate instantly with each other using the Internet.''

Mr. Jaffe said that with Intervac, as with most other reputable home-swapping services, members paid a fee for access to the company's database of potential swappers. Intervac's annual fee is $65, and, once signed up, members get a password giving them access to the company's Internet site (www.intervacus.com).

New members first create a profile containing information about themselves and about the house or apartment they have to swap, Mr. Jaffe said. Information posted on Intervac's database includes the type of home, the size of the swapper's family, the earliest and latest swap dates desired, the length of the swap and the destination desired.

Swappers can also provide a detailed description of what is included in the offer, such as the availability of one's automobile, computer or telephone, along with information about public transportation, local attractions and area shopping.

''You can also attach a photograph of your house or apartment to your member profile,'' Mr. Jaffe said.

Once a potential swapper has listed his or her home on the exchange, a member can sit back and wait for another member to make contact, or search through the other listings to see if anything there fits the bill.

''The most important thing to remember when doing a home exchange is to stay flexible,'' Mr. Jaffe said, noting that while desired destinations may or may not be subject to negotiation, details of a possible exchange -- including dates and length of stay -- can usually be worked out.

Glenn London, director of the Invented City, an Internet-based home-exchange service (www.invented-city.com), said that for those seeking to swap their home or apartment, ''geography is critical.''

And few areas of the world are more critically acclaimed, Mr. London said, than New York City.

''I can never have too many New York apartments to swap,'' he said, adding that when a New York City apartment was available, particularly in Manhattan, any concerns about swapping for a similarly sized home evaporated.

''Even if you have only a studio apartment, you don't have to be afraid to make contact with someone who has a seven-room seaside villa to swap if your studio apartment happens to be in Manhattan,'' he said. ''And if you have a house in the suburbs, that has its advantages, too.''

Mr. London explained that vacationers traveling with children might prefer to have a house with a yard that is within commuting distance from the city. ''And if you're willing to let them use your car, that can make a home in the suburbs a good candidate for a swap,'' he said.

One of the primary concerns that home-swappers have relates to the potential for damage to their house or apartment. The best way to address that concern, Mr. London said, is to have enough correspondence with the a potential exchange partner to feel comfortable with him or her.

It is common, for example, for each party to ask for and receive a reference, preferably from prior exchanges if available. It is also prudent, Mr. London said, for the parties to enter into a written pretrade agreement that establishes responsibilities for problems that may arise, including who pays for utilities during the swap and what should happen if problems with the house itself arise.

''You might also want to remove for safekeeping anything of significant or sentimental value,'' Mr. London said, adding that an exchange partner would probably be more comfortable knowing that your priceless Hummel collection, for example, had been safely packed away.

It is also wise to ask a neighbor to occasionally check in on the occupants of your home or apartment. ''This not only allows a trusted neighbor to make sure everything is fine, but also provides your guests with a welcome local contact,'' Mr. London said, adding that it was also prudent to provide telephone numbers of nearby friends or relatives for use in an emergency. Finally, Mr. London said, homeowners should check with their insurance agent to ensure that the existing homeowner's insurance policy covered any damages caused by, or injuries sustained by, a temporary occupant of the home.

While private homeowners, including condominium owners, are pretty much able to do whatever they want with their home or apartment, rental tenants and tenant-shareholders in co-op buildings may need to exercise caution when considering a vacation exchange.

Allen Brill, a Manhattan co-op lawyer, said, for example, that most co-op proprietary leases required board approval before a tenant-shareholder could sublet an apartment. And apartment swaps for periods of even a few weeks, he said, would technically constitute a sublet.

''Most proprietary leases provide that the apartment can be occupied only by the shareholder and members of the shareholder's immediate family,'' Mr. Brill said, adding that while the leases typically permitted shareholders to allow for guests in their apartments, most leases defined guests as individuals who are there at the same time as the shareholder.

Moreover, he said, since many New York City co-ops are finely attuned to security concerns, it is unlikely that a strange family coming and going in the building would go unnoticed -- or be very welcome -- for long.

Accordingly, Mr. Brill said, any co-op shareholder contemplating an apartment swap would be well advised to first seek permission for the swap from the co-op board.

The situation gets even more dicey when the apartment being swapped is a rental -- particularly a rent-regulated rental.

''Whether you're swapping your apartment for two weeks or two months, it would still be considered a sublet,'' said David Skaller, a Manhattan lawyer who represents landlords. ''And the risks associated with an illegal sublet are potentially severe.''

While rent-regulated tenants generally have the right to sublet their apartment for two out of every four years, the tenant must notify the landlord of the intended sublet. If the landlord is not notified, Mr. Skaller said, he can bring an eviction action against the tenant if he becomes aware of the sublet. And while the tenant typically has a chance to resolve the violation -- basically by evicting the subletting tenant from his or her apartment within 10 days -- a landlord who has brought such a case would generally be entitled to be reimbursed by the tenant for his legal fees.

And how likely is it that a landlord might bring such an action against a tenant who has swapped his apartment?

John Fisher, the owner of www.tenant.net, an Internet-based advocacy group, said that tenants could take nothing for granted when a rent-regulated apartment was at stake, adding, ''I hear stories about landlords taking tenants to court for simple things like house sitters.''
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