To ask this about housesitting etiquette

[libertybonds]

We are looking after a variety of plants and animals for friends of friends while staying in their (very nice) property.

They have asked us to contribute to the cleaner, which is £100/week

They would probably have the cleaner come anyway as they want to maintain the relationship. But it's true that the cleaner will be tidying up the house while we are there creating a normal level of dirtiness from showering, kitchen use, etc.

Would you contribute? How much?

Yeah just cancel the cleaner and do the bare minimum

incidentally have you told this intermediary friend about this?

Crikey they have made right skivvys of you both and had you pay for a cleaner.🙄
Bloody hell OP.
Unbelievable.
You should post that list on the same grouping highlight the request for you to pay the cleaner AFTER the event and state you were rightly caught by them.
Try and learn from this.
CF's are always on the look out for mugs willing to be exploited.

Actually if you compare the original house sitting spec to the actual one, you could ask for advance payment because they misled you.
But that would involve not accepting being taken for a mug.

These people aren’t friends at all, just do the pets, the plants and whatever and nothing else.

if you need to be blunt, be blunt. “We won’t need your cleaner, thanks. We won’t be paying for them.”

So tree frogs, a parakeet, gerbils, stick insects, a laborador and a bloody great python.

Am I close OP?

I was thinking ostrich and llama.

Ooh yes, they sound the type to have alpacas.

Love your username, btw. My DH regularly quote it at each other. 😆

Us too. 😁

I wouldn’t dream of asking anyone housesitting/pet sitting for me to pay for a cleaner but then I live in a boring terrace in SE London and have one very lazy cat.

If I was the one doing the sitting I would not expect to be asked to pay anything but would leave some thank-you gifts.

The only exception would be if the property was usually rented out commercially and it suited me to holiday there. Then a contribution towards cleaning or whatever as a mates-rates deal is maybe ok.

I think they know they are being CFs about the cleaver hence not being upfront about it so they have then subsequently chanced their arm. And would rather do this than piss off the cleaner.

I would write something like:
Now we are here and working hard to feed and care for your plants and animals, we do not want to have the cleaner come whilst we are staying as we feel it would be awkward for them. We will leave the house clean and tidy so do not feel it is appropriate for us to contribute to the clean after we leave.

I think I'd send them a message saying after all we won't need a cleaner during the stay, up to you if you want to pay for one after we've left. That way its clear you aren't expecting to pay fir either clean. I wouldn't worry about dumping it on them after agreeing etc, they have been way cheekier. Sounds like they'd have had to pay a LOT of money for what you are doing.
They aren't your friends so who cares of they whinge about you. You are in the right.

Am I the only one thinking the OP could cut down on the work involved by putting all animals in the same room while she does a massive cage clean session. I bet there would be fewer cages to clean after that. The cleaner may have to attend to the stains on the carpet afterwards but hey, you're paying for her anyway.

In which case if mutual friend mentions it to you, tell her straight that the whole thing was a lot of hard work, the the CFs got free animal and house sitting and that if anyone should be upset and feel taken advantage of, it's you.

I wouldn't be worrying about the mutual friend at all if she feels awkward all she has to do is say oh dear, but it's nothing to do with me.

What you need to do is contact them as soon as possible and say that you do not want to pay for the cleaner because you are doing them a huge favour in looking after their house and animals while they're away and not charging for that and that paying for a cleaner wasn't part of the original deal.

The problem they may have is that most cleaners insist on coming while you were away anyway because otherwise they are out of business when clients go on holiday. So these people are probably having to pay for their cleaner anyway and are trying to get you to pay for it either way.

What are they actually going to do if you don't give them the money? there's literally nothing they can do so I would contact them and say "on reflection we don't feel we need cleaners while we are here and we do not feel it appropriate for us to pay for your cleaners when we are already doing you a favour by house sitting and pet sitting for free. Therefore we won't be paying for the cleaner. But of course if you still want the cleaner to come while we are here then we will accommodate them"

This is only awkward if you let it be, they're not your friends. You don't have to see them ever again and how your other friend deals with them is up to her.

You need to take a deep breath, put your big girl pants on and message them and then stand firm because they literally can't do anything. If you don't transfer the money it's not like they're paying you and can withhold some of it.

So true! And you are actually there on-prem, so you have the upper hand. You can start sending them texts like "are there supposed to be sparks coming out of the aga? That's normal, right?" "The men who came to haul away your art were jolly nice and I offered them all tea. They said they'd be back next week for the rugs per your order."

I think it depends if they asked you to house sit and care for their pets and plants they should pay you.

If you asked to use their fancy home and they said yes if you watch the pets and pay for the cleaner (in lieu of rent) then let's be honest £100 is cheap

Sorry but that’s just not on. People pay for house sitters and pet sitters. If the are paying you say £50 a day to look after their property then maybe contribute but if they aren’t paying you then they are really cheeky.

Send them a video of the house before you leave so they can see how you’ve left it. You don’t need to pay for their cleaner

This is madness. I pay house sitters, I don't charge them.

I wouldn’t pay a penny and be invoicing them. I’d be telling the friend how cheeky they are as well.

Id also have cancelled the minute the cleaner issue came up. It’s their house not yours. Let them pay the hundreds it would cost to employ a house sitter.

I dont understand all the "keeping the peace" with the mutual friend comments. How about the friend keeping the peace with you. I'd message them and say on reflection and seeking others opinion you find it rather cheeky they are expecting you to pay for the cleaning you have created by caring for their home and pets. Its been a lot more indepth than you were originally lead to believe and you find it beyond cheeky and rude.

I desperately need to know what (and how many) animals you’re taking care of, and how often you’re having to clean cages.

I would LOVE to stay in Suffolk, if I can just convince my husband to look after our own dog.....cats.....DD while I come and explore new walks with your dog!

I pay my housesitters for house sitting for us!! I would never dream of charging them for anything, I’m astonished that anyone would think this was a reasonable thing to do!

You don't pay the cleaner...that's the owner of the house. Are they paying you to house sit. Yanbu.