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?

I’ve never paid someone to be their house sitter.

I would ask them to cancel the cleaner and see what they say to that.
You are doing them a huge favour and they are being beyond cheeky.

You are being taking for a ride OP. We pay our house sitter £75 a day to stay in our lovely home in Cornwall and leave her with a fully stocked fridge.
We cancel our cleaner so she's not disturbed and pay the cleaner to come in after the house sitter has left.

I'm currently flat sitting for someone, we do it for a few months a year and they have a weekly cleaner. We don't pay anything towards the cleaning because the person we're looking after the flat for isn't an arsehole.

There's a weekly laundry service and we do pay for that but we could just pause it

Are you already there? Trickier to say no if they have left on holiday and you are in their house, you can't exactly abandon the animals and plants. However, I would cost up how much it would be if they had to pay professional pet sitters or kennels etc to look after their animals and offset that against the cost of the cleaner. I think you'll find that on that basis they owe YOU plenty!

I would just say ‘oh yes, the cleaner. You can cancel the cleaner that week, we will clean up after ourselves.’ And if they say that the cancelling is not possible say ‘so you would be paying for it anyway?’

Unless there is a massive drip feed coming about how you needed to be in the area and they are doing you a favor by letting you stay there, this is ludicrous. Live in pet-sitters get paid, not charged.

Depends what you agreed on, is it like a free holiday somewhere nice & just pay cleaner/, pet sit, how much would comparable Airbnb cost for example

The basic plan on here is £119 so if they want half of the cleaner costs they owe you £69. I'd tell them that.

https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/pricing/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleAds_Direct_Search_Brand+Non-Brand_UK_Acquisitions&utm_content=HO_HouseSitterUK&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5qC2BhB8EiwAvqa41rmFwfsgXktOL2Qb9VcangABiGSFf2dQZBwL7-sRKvg8fEPmXV4tQRoCPcMQAvD_BwE

Wow. They are paying zero for animal care and have the cheek to ask you to contribute to cleaning cost? I mean absolutely not. They should be paying you, and sucking up the cleaning cost themselves. I can’t believe the cheek of some people, it’s shocking

See now I think If it's a stunning cottage in the cotswold or a big mannor house on the jurassic coast then you getting a real holiday for feeding some cats 🐈 and they owe you nothing but if it's a house in barking no beach no rivers, no mountains then piss off lol

This is the answer

I used these and it worked brilliantly - much more cost effective than paying an actual housesitter, especially if you've got a lot of pets (or one bloody awkward one, like I've got).

Shouldn't they be paying you?

Blimey. Are they asking for a couple of weeks of council tax and utility bills as well?

What are the pets? Labour-intensive or goldfish?

I used to pay my sitter nearly 100 quid a night so if all they have to do is continue to pay the cleaners, they are getting a major bargain.

But it sounds as though there is a fundamental misunderstanding of who is doing the favour here; you each think it's you.

I live in a desirable (expensive) holiday location and have live-in Housesitters when I go away.

Their part of the deal - they look after my dogs/plants

My part of the deal - they have free use of the house, garden and car, other amenities and any food and supplies in the fridge/cupboards/garden. I pay all expenses including the cleaner and would never, ever ask them to pay towards expenses. One time Housesitters tipped the cleaner, which was lovely of them but not at all expected.

What are your responsibilities? If it's a lot of work then no. But you should have said that when they suggested it.

You don’t pay a penny - they pay you!
House sitting is a huge responsibility and hard work especially if you are looking after their animals etc.

Cheeky to be ask you to oay, when you’re doing them b a favour. You shouldn’t be out of pocket for looking after their house! (And £100 per week! - is it a mansion or go they have very messy kids?)

That is absolutely ridiculous. You should pay nothing.

This is horrendous. Are they very rich (like millions in the bank assets/rich)? It’s a bit of a tired trope but in my experience my very richest friends are the most penny pinching / ungenerous, to the point of ridiculousness. I’ve realised in some cases there’s a reason they’re so rich!

thats awful.

I would not expect a house sitter to contribute towards the cleaner and wouldn't be impressed to be asked.

Have you house sat for them before? TBH it would make me worried there was going to be nitpicking and a possible falling out.

This is insane! The last time we went abroad we had a flat sitter (also a friend of a friend), got the cleaner in each week for her and got her in once each week (not that expensive though!!!). We also paid her pretty well.

She wanted to be around our area for a bit as a lot of her friends live around here and it's a really nice city central area. So I suppose we could have asked her for rent 🤣. I was just grateful our pets and flat were safe!