To ask this about housesitting etiquette

Op I salute you for catching a run away bunny!!. No easy task ime.

Only when armed with a broom was I ever successful!!

CF asking you to pay towards their cleaner. Just tell her if you had a spare £50 you'd be paying a cleaner to clean your house while you're away so you could return to a clean & tidy home. Let her know you'll be tidying up after yourself while you stay at hers so if she wants her cleaner to still come over she pays her herself.

Good for you @libertybonds

When you get home, block them!

Hope they now realise what it ridiculous right arses they were being.
No good deed goes unpunished eh op!

That's good - have they replied?

At no point did she agree to pay a cleaner for cleaning their house after she left. Agreement is null and void. Read the full thread next time.

I'd look up prices of pet care in their area and if they get pushy let them
know how much you've saved them.

Hi Lyraloo. No I don't do house sitting but might take it up later. I was just informing you about these agencies which bring together pet/house owners and sitters who don't get paid, just swap their services for free accommodation. Ther are lots but here's one of the best known: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/
Good luck with your search.

This

I paid €340 to have my dog minded for a week. You are also looking after plants and the property is safer because the house is occupied. I would find out what the normal fee for house-sitting etc and tell them if they expect you to pay the cleaner then your bill will be whatever the going rate is. Even if you don't charge them it is no harm that they know how much you are saving them!

How come this wasn't sorted out in advance?
They can't spring it on you now - you could just go home.

Oh come on @libertybonds

Message them about the rabbit problem, and make it very clear how annoying it was. Message them about every annoying thing that happens. At the very least make it plain how much work you're putting in and hopefully they won't ask you again, because at this rate you'd probably say yes 🙄

But the best thing you could do is to tell them, in light of all the work you've done for free, them asking you to pay the cleaner is a downright insult.

I had to read your post twice to make sure I’d understood it correctly! They are CFs of the highest order. Even if it does work out as a kind of holiday for you, it was their idea not yours. They have asked you a favour, you said yes because you’re a nice person and now they are taking the piss. I’d tell them that wasn’t part of the arrangement and that you will leave the place clean yourself. If only a professional cleaner is good enough for them, that’s their choice, and it sounds like they sprung this on you once you were already there? If they have such a lovely house and can afford to go away for such a long holiday then they can afford to pay their cleaner. Also, £100 a WEEK? Cleaners cost about £20 an hour in London, probably less elsewhere. Do they live in a 50 room mansion? The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am getting with them!

I hope you can find it in yourself to stand firm OP.

If it helps, imagine the thousand or so MNers who voted YANBU standing behind you cheering!

If you pay for the cleaner you may be very frustrated with yourself afterwards. You'll know yourself whether it's the sort of thing you could be thinking about for a long time, it whether you'll forget it easily. For me it wouldn't be the particular amount requested, it's the principle.

Regarding your mutual friend, you could be honest and say that the homeowner's expectations changed after your initial agreement. The requirements were more restrictive than initially described and the cleaner hadn't initially been mentioned

I do wonder whether the homeowners are the type to vaguely complain irrespective of what you do "well she clearly wasn't used to looking after animals to our usual standard but I suppose she did her best..."

I hope you are all able to enjoy the break.

Just leave and don't transfer the money, say you need your card reader to set up a new payee and it's at home. Then when you get home say "on reflection, we have saved you alot of money house/pet sitting and think us being out of pocket for doing such a favour is not something we are comfortable with." Then don't engage any further. Before you leave, have the place tidy and take pics of each room incase they try talk bullshit that you left a mess.

Absolutely don't pay them for the cleaner after this! Present them with your own bill if they want to go down that route. Honestly outrageous behaviour!!

Ignore it! Honestly, don't mention it. If they make a big issue of it, REMIND them of everything you've done FREE OF CHARGE for them. Utter Cheeky Fuckers.

Op you need to say they you are not happy to pay for a cleaner. You will leave the house in good condition (ie. as you found it). It's up to them if they wish to fund the cleaner to come.
I would remind them that you are doing them a favour looking after their pets. If they aren't happy with that you be are happy for them to arrange someone else to look after their pets.

CF's just cannot help themselves.
Mean people are disgusting.

40 years ago as a teen, a woman asked me would I be available for a summer babysitting job for 6 hours a day £1.50 an hour. She'd got my name from the lovely woman I did a bit of night time babysitting for.
This was 6 weeks before the holidays began.

I agreed as I was looking for a summer job, as were all my friends. She lived 10 minutes walk from me in a lovely large house.
A week from starting I was offered a great job through a friend in a shoe shop her aunt owned. I would have loved to have taken it up, but had unfortunately committed to the babysitting job.

The friday before I started on the monday, she rang our house phone to confirm my start time and said that in fact the job would pay £1 as her friend was only paying that to another teen!
I got off the phone in shock and had a think.
I rang my friend who said I could still have the shoe shop job.
I then rang the woman back and said thank you but no thank you, but
I was no longer interested in the job at the now reduced rate and I quickly hung up and didn't answer the phone when she rang back.
She called multiple times and was eventually told I had gone out.

That evening she called to the house and was very upset as I was "leaving her down last minute".
I was having none of it. I told her that I had turned down the shoe shop job, but she decided to rip me off last minute. I was now starting the shoe shop on monday and was absolutely not available.

She had really messed up and was so stuck and outraged.
I made absolutely sure to tell the woman who had given my name to her exactly what happened.
I didn't feel the least bit sorry for her and it was a great lesson in standing up for myself.

I hate mean CF's.

Good point. Are the 'other reasons' you want to be in this location OP such that you don't want to quit/be chucked out at short notice ? Because for example for this period of time you're also having to look after an elderly parent who lives nearby.