Well-maintained fourbed detached house in one acre seeks three-bedroom cottage with small garden for serious relationship.” Welcome to the world of the property lonely hearts: house-swap parties at which agents, desperate to keep sales moving and the commission rolling in, attempt to match would-be buyers and sellers.

Once a month, over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, the Edward Mellor group of estate agents, based in southeast Manchester and Cheshire, invites owners to discuss what they are looking for and what they can offer in exchange. Up to 50 guests attend each event. Since the scheme was launched in September, the office in Marple, near Stockport, has completed 10 swaps - 20 sales.

“Traditionally, agents have never had a focus on what their clients were doing outside the single transaction they were handling,” says Scott Grayson, a manager and franchise owner, who introduced the idea. “Now we are concentrating as much on what they want to buy and whether we can match them to another seller.” In Leamington Spa, Knight & Rennie, which also runs a lonely-hearts club for houses, has completed three swaps since September, including one involving a property that sold for £975,000. “We realised it was happening organically, so we formalised it,” says partner Oliver Knight, who now advertises not just the house he is selling, but details of the property the vendor is looking for – size, style, location and price. “You need a bit of luck and keen pricing, but it can be the key to unlocking the market,” he says.

So, how does it work? The process, generally advertised as a “house swap”, could more fairly be described as a house match. Two or more sellers agree to buy each other’s properties, but instead of being locked into a chain, they are in a closed loop, selling to each other, thereby making it less likely that someone is going to pull out.

Ken Stelling, 55, and his wife, Kathryn, are among those whose plans have been rescued by such a swap. They put their modern four-bedroom detached house in Denby Dale, near Huddersfield, on the market a year ago, with the aim of moving to Cyprus. The villa they had bought off-plan in Paphos was complete, the international removal company was arranged and flights were booked, but two months before they were due to leave, their home remained unsold, despite “significant price drops to £244,950.

That’s when Justin Dugdale, co-director of Corner-stone estate agency, which was selling their house, offered a solution. Take a deep breath, because this is fiendishly complicated. “I knew the Stellings had a deadline and I knew we had someone interested in the house, if only they could sell their own,” he explains. “I scoured my swap portfolio and found a possible buyer for their house so the Stellings could move.” The potential buyers for the Stellings’ house – teacher Gary Owen, 25, and his wife, Jenny, 28, a dental therapist – had viewed the property, but were struggling to find a buyer for their own £155,000 three-bedroom semi in neighbouring Shelley. Dugdale, however, knew of a couple who were looking for just such a property in the area, and tracked them down on holiday.

“The agent rang us in Greece to say that someone was interested in a house swap, and suggested another we might like,” explains Karen Wynard, 31, a financial adviser. “We found an internet cafe in Cephalonia so we could take a look, and viewed the property as soon as we got home.”

Wynard and her husband, Darren, 35, a driving instructor, liked what they saw and put in an offer, but still had to sell their two-bedroom terraced cottage in Skelmanthorpe, on the market at £119,500. Dugdale then suggested that the Stellings buy thecottage as a buy-to-let investment. They did, and within six weeks all sales were completed in a three-way swap. For the Wynards, it meant an end to almost a year of uncertainty. The Owens were elated to move to a larger detached house with their 17-month-old son, James; and the Stellings went to Cyprus as planned.

Dugdale, who in September completed 25 deals, 15 of which were swaps, was inspired to run his “pack of snap cards” when he saw a staff member trying to engineer a swap after a client asked whether anyone would be interested in exchanging properties.

He now spends all his time trying to match sellers’ criteria for the homes they want to buy. One recent swap involved a couple who needed more space selling a one-bed flat to one half of a divorcing couple, who were trying to shift a three-bedroom semi. Dugdale has also completed an ambitious five-way deal in which four of the five sellers bought houses to live in themselves, with the owner at the top end of the market buying the cheapest property to ensure the sales went through.

Though the properties are described as swaps, they are treated as normal sales for tax and legal reasons. Just as with any other deal, the parties involved will agree a price, arrange a survey, negotiate a mortgage where necessary and organise a completion date. Stamp duty is paid as normal, as are the agent’s fees. And, of course, if the agent is selling both properties, he receives two fees.

Dugdale calls it a game of snap, but for the desperate sellers, it’s more a case of happy families.

Edward Mellor; 0161 443 4500, www.edwardmellor.co.uk

Knight & Rennie; 01926 430555, www.knightandrennie.com

Cornerstone; 01484 865 646, www.cornerstoneea.co.uk

Swap tactics

Make sure your agent knows exactly what you are looking for – be as specific as possible

Be aware that the best swaps tend to happen within a 10-mile radius

You should be open-minded and willing to compromise on your ideal home. “If you’re on with another agent, bring your brochure or details with you,” Scott Grayson says. “Remember, the agent is the dating agency – let him do the networking”

Keep viewing properties even when your own remains unsold to alert agents to your interest in them

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