Friend took advantage of house sitting?

[Champgal]

I recently went away for a few weeks and a friend of mine and her partner stayed at the house to give my cat his daily medication he needs. Friend always likes to stay over as she lives in a small single bed flat with her partner and I live in a 3 bed house with garden so she says it’s like staying in a nice air bnb for a while. While it’s a nice favour that she looks after the cat, I returned to find that my car keys weren’t where I left them. I asked her about this and she said she used the car for a friend to give her some driving lessons in. This was never discusses and I also found the tank to be almost empty considering I left it with half a tank. I also found out from another friend that she hosted small get together a with friends. Though nothing was broken or got out of hand, I can’t help feel that it’s taking the piss a little. All my bath bombs I got in a set for my birthday were used and she had also forgot to take the recycling out for three weeks and the bin was overflowing, resulting in an awful smell when we came home. Should I say something? Or do I just ask someone else next time and not mention it? Or am I just being fussy and should I just be thankful for the help.

R u in England? If so and she'd been stopped by the police they would have impounded the car and if you'd not provided them with your insurance and collected the car PDQ it would have been crushed.

Are you even sure she gave the cat their medicine with all else that she did/didn’t do….

I wouldn't mention the bins or bath bombs. I'd mention the car though.

People have different expectations and if she is doing you a favour, she might think her behaviour is within normal boundaries for payback. The car bit is definitely weird though, was she insured? I'd say something being concerned that she took the car without being insured etc. I wouldn't dwell on the petrol, it could have been quite serious if she'd had an accident.

Mm... thats not 'most' house sitters, that is a site specifically for people wanting free house sitters, and people willing to house sit for free to get free accomodation.

That is not how professional house sitters work and those people won't have the experience, insurance and potentially, qualifications (relevant to the animals they're looking after) a professional should have.

20 years ago, I was being paid £150 a week to house sit and look after dogs - that included fridge/freezer full of food, internet, Sky tv etc.

People absolutely DO pay £100 a day these days - and people are making money charging that, but in those cases they'd likely be minding a large house and multiple animals - dogs, cats, horses, chickens etc, or smallholdings, not just an average/moderate home and a cat. A more normal rate for the average home + one or two pets would be around £25 - £35 a day where I live.

As the PP says, there are professional housesitters, but the site she's talking about is also very good (TrustedHousesitters) where it's on barter basis - look after a pet/s for a free stay. It works really well for both sides but really its ONLY for popular / nice areas especially the populat city locations.
Some owners aer CF wgen advertising to fnd a sitter for a smallholding or 3+ dogs for free! Unless it's some amazing country house / estate.

You have to pay an annual fee but it's very good value if you use them a few times a year - and you can choose from many candidates. It's not really fair to say they have less experience than the professional sitters - some pros are quite new whereas people who owned animals or been 'barter style' sitters for a while aer very experienced.
They have to go through ID checks and provide outside referennces too. But your area must be popular to have a good choice of candidates. I use the site as a sitter, and some people do offer access to food left in the kitchen and a few let some cash ' for transport' but mostly money is not involved directly. Most sitters aer genuine animal lovers - you can tell from the reviews they have from previous sits, and talk to a few prior to chhosing one, as well. If you lucky you may get a regular same sitter so they stop being /random' - better a nice adn tidy 'random' who loves cats than a friend like that staying!

Sorry for so many typos!

I'm sorry but there is no way I would treat my friend's house and belongings like this. I would see the cat sitting as a favour and would expect nothing in return. if I didn't want to do it I would say no. I would drop this person without hesitation I'm afraid.

I would unfriend her quickly and hope that she goes away, if she doesn’t I would report her to the police straight away and impose an injunction. Let her know that she disrespected you by imposing boundaries legally. I have had lodgers and one of them had so many bad habits it beggar’s one that she doesn’t know that she is doing it. She’s gone now but that’s because she found a cardholder that would allow her to stay with him rent free. It isn’t going to end well but I am well rid.

She’s taking the pis. Get the neighbour to look after cat next time.

Just speak to her.

Hopefully after 6 MONTHS it has been sorted 🙄🙄

ZOMBIE

I hope so. Nowadays you can’t afford to let people like that take over because they will leave you with nothing.