SWOPS

Swops was created by a Melbourne renter for renters. We rent a beautiful family home in Preston and we pay a lot for the privilege. At Christmas 2025 we were going to Sydney for a holiday. We knew for certain that someone with a nice house up there would love to come to Melbourne for Christmas and stay at ours, so we asked friends, friends-of-friends and looked around different house-swapping sites.

But because we rent, house swapping wasn’t really available to us without creating a public profile on a cheesy site built for homeowners. Creating a profile with pics of our house meant potentially having to get into the weeds with our agent and landlord for what felt like something that we shouldn’t need to ask permission for. We’ve had friends sit our house and we’re quite capable of making that judgement call for ourselves.

So with no other option, we left our expensive home sitting empty for 12 days while we paid rent for it and also paid through the nose for a holiday rental in Dee Why. It seemed real dumb. So here we are, talking to you about making holidays not so dumb for renters.

Let’s get together and give each other a break.

First swop Kings Birthday long weekend 6 - 8 June 2026 - Sydney<>Melbourne More dates coming soon First swop Kings Birthday long weekend 6 - 8 June 2026 - Sydney<>Melbourne More dates coming soon First swop Kings Birthday long weekend 6 - 8 June 2026 - Sydney<>Melbourne More dates coming soon First swop Kings Birthday long weekend 6 - 8 June 2026 - Sydney<>Melbourne More dates coming soon

SWOPS privately matches renters with renters to swap homes for short breaks.

Just register interest for a nominated swop window (1st one is King's Bday wknd) > Get matched > Meet your swopmate/s on video call and see the place > Opt to swop... or don’t. Up to you.

We manually review every registration and match you based on your suburb, home type and what you’re after. If there’s no good match for you right now we’ll let you know.

No public listings. Between renters, for renters.

A swop isn’t a luxury holiday. It’s pretty much waking up in Surry Hills instead of Brunswick for a weekend and seeing what happens.

Because why not? You already paid for accom.

You’ve got enough lords in your life, so we’re staying right out of it.

The spirit of Swops is peer-to-peer reciprocity. We believe that mutual hospitality where both parties have skin in the game is a much stronger behavioural moderator than reviews.

Or in the words of Jay Z: “Treat people how you wanna be treated, that’s the code.”

But don’t take our word for it.

You should meet your match (on video call). Look them in the eye. Talk. Ask questions. Make your own judgement about whether it feels right to you.

That’s how getting a friend-of-a-friend to house-sit works. Sort of. Swops is the same thing. But better. It’s fast-friends turning the dead money of rent into the life-affirming treat of free accommodation in a new city.

If that sounds good to you then register your interest (no obligation) and get ready to get fully lost at sunset in someone else’s neighbourhood.

We’ll ask for your basic details, a bit about your place, and what you’re after. No credit card. No obligation. Just your hand up saying you’re interested.

You’re on the list.
We’ll be in touch before King’s Birthday.

Swops isn’t subletting — it’s reciprocal hosting between renters. Many standard leases are fine with short-term guests, but it’s worth a quick check of your lease’s guest policy before you register. No cash changes hands. No public listings.