£20 a night?

[Silverbook]

How much would you pay for a school pupil to stay in your house while you were away on holiday? Main responsibility is to feed the cat. What’s reasonable?
We were thinking £15-20 but it’s divided the room with half thinking that’s too much and the other thinking not enough.
I’m reaching out the the MN wisdom and the decision here will be final.

Exactly 😂

I do wonder how half of MN get through each day tbh

I pay £18 a day for two visits a day from the professional pet sitter. I think she used to charge £30 to stay over in houses with dogs but she doesn’t offer that anymore. I think £15-20 is fine to pay them.

By all means have them pop in and out to check the cat etc.

But they are 15. I really wouldn't want to be having a discussion with insurance company if they were to accidentally damage something. Cause a fire leaving gas on or anything.

£20 sounds perfect. My three at that age would have been absolutely fine .

This is really odd!!

Why do they need 24 hour access? Why not just give him £10 a day to pop in and feed your cat twice?

If I was 15 and I was offered 24 hour access to an empty house for 10 days to do that ever I like in, I’d feed the cat for free never mind expect payment 😂😂

£25 a day sounds fine. You’ve looked at places like housesitters. And trustedhousesitters?

I reckon they’ve got 10 days of unrestricted, uninterrupted, noisy sex planned 😂

I think the money is fine and if you know the parents and the teen and they are all happy with the arrangement then fair enough.
I judged the mum of dds boyfriend hard though for going off on a family holiday and leaving her son behind for 2 weeks on his own. Barely 16, doesn’t know the neighbors and no family nearby, I just thought it was really irresponsible but he was obviously okay!
Only you know the set up, if the family home is 5 minutes away they’ll be able to come and go as they please.
As a 16 year old my dad asked me to go and housesit for his 2 dogs for a week - I took my friend, he took us out to do a big food shop (no fruit or veg was purchased 😂) and then we had the most blissful week ever. No wild parties as we didn’t know anyone in the quiet local area, but we did wangle our way into the local pub a couple of times for a southern comfort and coke!

I also think it is too young.

What is the child meant to do all day?
What does the child's family think?
How far is the child's family home?
Does the child have to shop for and cook food?

I can't think of a single person that I would want to house/cat sit.
I prefer to lock the house up safely and use boarding for animals.

My licenced and fully insured dog boarder only charges £10 a day and £20 for an overnight. So for a 15 yr old to feed my cats I'd be paying £10 a day max

Why does the catsitter need to stay? If they live 5 minutes away just get them to drop in to feed and check on them twice a day for £20 . 15 is too young to do more.

Christ no. That's taking the piss frankly.

Just paid £84 for a cat sitter to pop in and feed mine for 3.5 days! Not staying over just doing 2 visits a day.

For those saying £20 a night i reasonable for babysitting, maybe back in 1990! You're looking at £80 now for an overnight stay off a sitter.

If you want an overnight house sitter, this is presumably to ward against burglars?

In which case 15 is far too young to be put in that position.

Get an alarm, put lights on timer, ask the 15 yo to leave the curtains in different positions each time they go in (twice a day) to feed and check on the cat.

For those saying £20 a night i reasonable for babysitting, maybe back in 1990! You're looking at £80 now for an overnight stay off a sitter
It's a cat not a baby 🤣. My dog boarder is £20 for an overnight.

Sorry but you're overpaying your cat feeder. The most any dog-sitter charged me for a 24 hour overnight stay was £40 (our usual one charged £25) and a dog is much more difficult to take care of than a cat. Feeding a cat should really not cost very much.

I don't think these replies are ridiculous tbh. OP has asked a question yes, and the majority of people are asking if it's really a good idea.

Surely if the family of this kid have offered his/her services then it's up to them to set the rate instead of having a polite dance around how much is acceptable? "Johnny would love to earn some extra cash this summer - he could stay at yours for, say, 15 quid a night to house sit and feed the cats. What do you think of that rate?" Or Johnny could say it himself!

The parents sound like right chancers tbh, suggesting he stays at your house so you can pay him more money when all you need is him to pop in and feed the cat. They saw you coming didn't they!

The only person taking the piss is your cat sitter. Youve been ripped off!

On the basis you'd be happy with them just popping in and they actively offering to stay, I think £20 would be nice, enough to incentivise keeping place clean and tidy and the extra will help the teen out.

Alternatively ask teen how much they want and negotiate to £20 if more, and accept lower offer.

I know a teen who would jump at this chance and be very responsible. They have multiple younger siblings and share a room.

This wasn't at all obvious from your OP. Normally if you pay a house-sitter you are paying them to move in and be responsible for keeping the house secure etc.

I think £20 sounds OK but £10 to just do the cat would be plenty, and a whole lot clearer and simpler for you than having them "move in" to an unspecified degree.

I think £15 a day is fine

They might be responsible though but if some teens they know find out they have a house to themselves overnight they might gatecrash.

I think £15 is fine. I have a 14 year old relative who earned £15 a day last week and that was at sports school in the heat. She was over the moon with the £.

My god people are so weird - and have they even read the OPs replies? The family offered and the teenager is keen, parents will be 5mins away - they all know and trust each other.
I think sometimes people are looking very, very hard to find fault with or be suspicious of plans/things/people.

@Silverbook I reckon £20 per night is perfect, £200 for a teenager for doing precious little other being responsible is a good deal.
Have a lovely time away