House Sitters Good Idea?

[RichardK]

We are planning our first long time away and are pondering on how to provide the best security for our house.

The subject of house Sitters was raised between SWMBO and myself and we were wondering what experiences others have had with them;

How trustworthy are they?
Will they respect the house and furniture?
What do we need to remove from the house?
I assume that they would pay for the power, water, gas that they use?

Any thoughts on this would be welcome

RichardK

[BUNDY]

Hey Richard....i dont have personnel  experience with but my brother house sits full time and has done so for a while he has regular house sits and new one he is booked out months in advance
He does not pay utility's but has been asked in the past but will not take those sits on
You get your garden kept your animals feed your mail bought in and the presence off some one living there.
The web site he is on had him supply police checks references for him and his wife, they have a profile which potential people access once they register.
Any time they have between sits they go back to there place they try to roll them if possible one after the other, why they do it i dont no never asked but they have stayed in some state of the art mansions to country farms and some very unique homes

Hope this helps a bit cheers

BUNDY

[austastar]

Hi,
  We have done it twice, once excellent, the other mediocre.
First was some one we knew, and she was brilliant, place was spotless when we returned.
Second, well it was tidy - just. Minor irritations like a mark on the table, a few minor things broken, and small things lost. Nothing to get upset over, just annoying.
We only did it the second time because of a budgie we inherited.


Both times they paid power/phone/water consumed, we paid network connection costs.


Unless we got a known sitter we would prefer to leave the place empty and under the care of a trusted neighbour.


Cheers.

[Traveller]

We were camped beside a lady who did house-sitting to supplement her income to allow her to travel full time. She was an amazing person and I would certainly let her 'sit' our house. She was telling us about a Website that lists prospective sitters for you to choose from. Unfortunately we didn't write down the address but I am sure you should be able to track it down. When organising a sitter, not only do you get to vet the sitter, but they get a chance to suss you out as well, and if they feel like they are not comfortable then they will pull out.

It sounded like a good arrangement for both halves, and like Bundy's brother, she was booked out for months at a time.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[corndog]

If you do or you don't have a house sitter check your insurance policies. My mothers house was broken into when she wasn't there due to being sick, and the insurance company wouldn't pay up because the house wasn't occupied for over 6 weeks.

[glenm64]

We met an older retired couple who lived on the road full time, travelling to house sits around the country.
They did rural and farm sits only and I reckon had the ideal life.
Unless you know the people involved, it would be a hit and miss affair.
Dont know if Id have strangers looking after my place long term

Cheers Glen

[BaseCamp]

If you do or you don't have a house sitter check your insurance policies. ....and the insurance company wouldn't pay up because the house wasn't occupied for over 6 weeks.

Good idea to take out workcover for your home as well...    I know if you have any type of "people" visiting your home; (tradies; cleaners and house keepers; odd jobbers; gardeners; etc) - if they trip; or slip and fall - or worse - they can and may sue you.. period!

Hopefully some of the more professional corporate types -- ("Jims Mowing"; "Dial a Domestic" etc) may have their own insurance that covers the situation - but a house sitter is a kind of commercial arrangement - and I personally wouldn't be mucking around with the potential risk; without at least making a couple of calls/emails first..     Just saying.......

[Memem284]

We have used 2 different housesitter on 3 different occasions with great results. We have only used them for short periods to mind the cats and dogs and I swear the house was cleaner when we got back than before we left! Even the dogs were unsure whether to stay with us or leave with the housesitters!
We are going away for 14 weeks this year and have already had a meet and greet with our new housesitters (we leave end of April). We are pretty confident all will go well. We are taking our dogs with us and have negotiated that they pay for the cat food and we pay for the elec bill etc.
We leave an extensive list and story re the animals and running of the house and make it clear we have very friendly neighbours.
I can only recommend housesitting as a great thing.

[Apples69]

My Aunty and Uncle do house sitting and both retired professionals.
In very high demand but due to age they are only doing a few.
Have house sat in Vacluse Sydney and other high profile suburbs.
If you get the right people its a win win

[Jeepers Creepers]

When you put a "normal tenant" in a property, by law, you must have the smoke alarms serviced etc.

Most folks use Smoke Alarm Solutions or similar, to obtain a written report that has been done by someone qualified blah blah blah.

Now, i bought this up with Mrs Jeepers who is very savvy with real estate law, whether you would be liable if you didn't do the same thing with a house sitter?

From memory, we pay SAS a flat fee and they attend the property as many times as needed, which works out well for us.

Just food for thought so no-one gets caught out.

[Fizzie]

Along the same lines, under the new rules I think you'd also need a Pool Safety Certificate? (If you've got a pool of course!)

[RichardK]

Thanks all for the information, we have some time so will try to see the best option for us

[rossmob]

We went through aussiehousesitters.com.au and have booked in a nice couple for our trips this year.  Process was very good (read free into that) and with references, police checks we think we found a suitable couple. Will try them out for short stint in April and see how they go.

They will look after dogs, garden but we pay the bills ... Although they bringIng in things like wifi. Etc


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