Sample letter of agreement / contract
Essential guide table of contents
Many exchangers feel no need for a formal home exchange contract, believing that the letters, phone calls, emails or faxes to be sufficient at communicating plans.
Nevertheless, it may be a good idea to consolidate all the information passed back and forth in one final communication. This can either take the form of a personal letter or a more formal contract for both parties to date and sign.
Whether formalised in a signed and dated agreement or not, a final letter incorporating the issues below, not only sets out the boundaries, but also clarifies any uncertainties or ambiguities that may have arisen during the course of your communication.
The informal agreement below is to be used as a guide only; to be adapted by exchanger, guest or host, as suits your own needs.
Sample letter of agreement
Dear Martin and John,
At last we are finally making our exchange!
All being well, we plan to arrive London Heathrow at around 4.40 pm. We will take your advice and use the underground and we hope to arrive at your home around 6.30pm.
I am looking forward to meeting your neighbour and friend Gordon who I believe will be there to meet us and hand over the keys to your home. No doubt he will be able to answer any immediate questions we may have. Thank you also for leaving us his phone number.
We agree to do the following:
- Leave you our comprehensive home information kit and look forward to reading yours.
- Please feel free to use our car. We have left a ‘to whom it may concern’ note of authorisation for you to drive it, in the glove compartment. Thank you for allowing us reciprocal use of your car. We promise to leave it in the garage, cleaned and with a full tank of petrol.
- We promise also to take great care of your 2 bicycles and will always lock them securely.
- Please use the emptied top 3 drawers in the main bedroom for your clothes and we have provided you with sufficient hanging space in the wardrobes. We will look out for the ‘stick it’ notes on the drawer space you have kindly allocated for our use. We understand the third bedroom is strictly “off-limits”.
- We will leave you complete instructions on how to care for Muffin. She will provide you with much love and asks only that you give her one good walk a day.
- In return, we accept responsibility for caring for your Bettsie. She sounds a wonderful dog and I’m sure it will be a pleasure to exercise her each day. Like you, we will leave the veterinarian’s phone numbers. Our good friend Andrew will care for her should you wish to travel for a few days.
- We will look after your house well and keep it clean and tidy. Upon departure,
- We will ensure all the rooms are as clean and tidy as when we arrived.
- We will regularly water your plants, as per your instructions in the kit.
- We have left complete instructions on how to operate our home security system and we promise to leave your own home securely locked at all times.
- Upon leaving, we will replace any food or drink staples we may have used. Feel free to use any of the beer you find in our fridge but we would be grateful if you would leave the wines untouched.
- As we have said in a previous letter we are both non-smokers now and would appreciate it if you smoked in the garden.
- Our telephone bill, like yours, is itemised. We will send you a copy of the bill when we receive it and expect you to send us a copy of the calls we have made. Hopefully, the bills will more or less balance and we promise to repay any clear discrepancy between bills.
- We accept responsibility for any items that may get damaged during our stay. We promise to replace in kind or in money.
- When we leave, we will return the key to Gordon as requested. When you leave our home, either leave the keys with Andrew if he is around or just slip the keys into the bag provided, and pop them through the letterbox.
- We promise to respect all your possessions and privacy at all times as we expect you will respect ours.
And finally, thank you for all the correspondence and photographs we have sent each other over the last few months. I feel as if we are old friends. We are very much looking forward to vacationing in your home, as I hope you are in ours, and we promise to leave it as tidy and as clean as when we found it. We both hope to meet you one day, perhaps next year.
With best wishes,
Simon and James