Scores of Tasmanians are doing just that by registering with numerous home-swapping companies.

Home swapping sees people offer up their property for a set time in exchange for a property elsewhere.

The advantage: free holiday accommodation or the ability to find work in other states and countries.

The disadvantage: suspending privacy by opening your home to a complete stranger.

Bigger home and holiday exchange companies boast hundreds of Tasmanian members with between 20 and 30 listings for available homes up for exchanges listed on their websites each week.

Membership fees hover around $50 to $150 a year which effectively buys free accommodation to a surprise location.

Ceri and Rob Weeks, of Trevallyn, registered with HomeLink Australia five years ago so they could escape the Tasmanian winter.

Since then, they have participated in 20 exchanges, offering up both their Trevallyn home and Coles Bay shack, with no problems to note on any exchange.

``There is a good trust system, you are in their house, they are in your house so you look after each other's things,'' Mrs Weeks said.

``Sometimes you meet them and sometimes you don't. Sometime you are only emailing them or talking to them on the phone.

``We've gone to some beautiful homes, one was a penthouse in Brisbane. People just seem to walk out, leaving everything there for you.''

The couple will embark on a holiday across Europe in a few months, staying at homes borrowed to them from people who have used the Weeks' hospitality while in Tasmania.

``We are going to the UK, Ireland and the Greek Islands,'' Mrs Weeks said.

While the Weeks swap homes to explore the world, others swap so they can pay their mortgage while living rent-free away from home.

Trinity Burgess, of Perth, decided recently to advertise her Mowbray home for an exchange on an online classifieds website after two sets of renters trashed the house, leaving a $5000 damage bill.