I would be a a bit nervous though - I think a lot of background checking / a lot of insurance cover etc would be needed to be shown to me before I swapped my house with a stranger.
I'm a Landlord, so 'house swaps' of a type are something I do all the time.
Re the background checking, there are several companies out there, who for a small consideration, will do exactly that. All legal and above board, they check family, employers, bank accounts, credit rating, passports an so on.
In the rental business anyone thay does not want to be checked, or comes up as a lier does not get to borrow quarter of a million quids worth of house.
So whilst in theory I'd be happy to swap homes with a stranger, I would do the check on them, and expect them to do the same back to me (actually I think it would be polite to suggest a mutual check.)
Over the years I've come across very few dodgy people as they get put off by the sort of questions that are asked, but I've certainly had a few attempts such as the Nigerian mobile phone scam, the Vietnamise very keen on indoor gardening, the Pakistani hot bed bunk house and most suprising were a group of Lawyers who passed all the checks until I phoned up their previous landlord who had no financial problem with them, however they had trashed the house with their regular late night parties.