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?

Great suggestion!

Another time try Trusted Housesitters- I have done sits for years through them both in UK and abroad. Both sitters and homeowners pay for membership but after that it’s free ( neither side pays anything) Mostly works very well. Anyone who wants a discount to join should DM me.

Funcamper, I was just thinking about Trusted Housesitters! Have spent the past few days trying to figure out how I can eke more traveling out of my budget. What are the pros and cons?

Absolute cheek of the devil. House/pet-sitting is a well-paid profession, and good sitters are booked for months (years!) in advance.

I would tell them that you have saved them a minimum of £50 a day, and you find it utterly offensive that they would be so cheeky as to actually suggest you pay to have their house cleaned - and you certainly won’t be repeating it.

My SiL has just had to pay £30 per day for a house/pet sitter.

I hadn't realised you were already there.

They want you to pay for the cleaner who doesn't even come until after you've left?

I would probably respond something like - "Given how much cleaning up and care your pets and plants have required, I think expecting us to pay for your cleaner at all is really ungrateful."

They aren't friends. You don't have baggage to navigate. You just need to be clear with them.

OMG - ‘friends of friends’, so not even actual friends!

Tell them to get stuffed, and they can find someone else to take over from tomorrow. (I know you won’t actually leave the animals, but it will be good sport.)

Well mostly very positive if you like animals,as I do.Vast majority of owners have been delightful and I’ve done several repeat sits; also done them in Spain,Portugal,Canada and Scotland so a great way to travel while still having home comforts. Negatives would be strong, untrained unruly rescue dogs which lunged at every man,bicycle and cat encountered ( in a medium sized city so a fair number!); very messy and untidy homes with no place to put ANYTHING; batshit crazy owners who lay out a timetable for feeding/ grooming/ cleaning ( one got me up at 6 am to show me how to put out bird food before she left)
But you can avoid all this by reading comments from previous sitters ( no review is a dead giveaway, it’s a code for ‘ this is so awful I can’t comment’) and having a video chat or 3 in advance.

I used trusted housesitters. It benefits both parties, and in my case my sitters were almost always people returning from working abroad and needing a base from which to house hunt.

I continued to pay my cleaner to come in, as it meant my sitters had less to do and a pleasant environment, and the house would be clean for me to come back to. In one case it was just as well as the cleaner reported that that particular sitter was really messy! But it was still my responsibility to pay for the cleaning.

I've just paid someone £700 to house sit and look after my cat and dog for 2 weeks. It was good to have someone looking after things while I was gone. You're doing them a huge favour by doing this for free but I get you don't mind doing it for a friend. For them to turn round and ask you to pay for the cleaner is a piss take of the highest degree.

Wtf should you pay? What cheeky duxkers! They should pay you.

Yanbu
feel it’s cheeky to ask you for money to pay when your doing them a huge favour
pet care is expensive alone!

Professional housesitters/live in pet sitters charge approximately £500 per week for 4 cats and 2 budgies. They also demand a clear shelf in the fridge for their food and a shelf/space in the freezer. Full provision of fresh laundered linens must be provided on arrival (obviously).
They will allow access for regular maintenance such as gardeners, cleaners, window cleaners etc but they will not pay them even if money has been left to do this.

While they live in nice houses for a few weeks.

Your friends are CF at best.

Completely out of order! We have a relative stay at ours to pet sit for 2 weeks when we go on holiday. Get them a good selection of food, snacks, beer etc for them for while they stay, leave them a bit of money for a takeaway. They are in the house pretty much all day, so using way more electric than we would usually. No way would I ask them to contribute towards the electric or food I get them in, they are doing me massive favour and saving me hundreds of pounds in pet sitter/kennel fees! Prime CF!

This ⬆️

My son used to house sit for his old boss- a gorgeous house and it was to look after the garden & animals -I used to go there and it was gorgeous.
Lovely grounds- but no way dog boss expect son to PAY! {son is very tidy}

Let’s face it, the cleaner is mainly coming to clean up the pet mess. We have a lovely pet sitter but the worst bit about coming back from holiday is 7 days of cat hair everywhere!! They are cheeky fuckers!

basically this. I cannot believe people are this cheeky and ungrateful

I wouldn't pay no. My Friend stayed in a lovely large house near Dartmoor looking after one dog they paid her £500 ! For a week.

Good grief, absolutely not! We have younger relatives by marriage who have house/pet sat for us and we hope they’ll do it again. They were doing us a big favour and we filled the fridge with food and left them wine and chocolates.

We don’t have a cleaner but no way would we expect them to contribute if we did.

Dear X

I hope you’re having a lovely time away. Your plants and animals are all really well. Animals X and Y are absolutely adorable and we’ve enjoyed a lot of time doing X and Y with them.

We are a little surprised that you have asked us to contribute to your cleaner’s fees. For pet sitting, whether it be house and pet, or just popping in to feed +/- walk dogs (if there are dogs) we usually charge around £16 per visit / £30 per day if required to live in (house sitting).

We haven’t discussed any payment for staying in your house and looking after your animals and plants because as you are friends of friends, we were happy to do it for nothing.

If you would prefer to formalise the arrangement, we can do that certainly.

Our bill would be X
Any cleaning fees would be your responsibility.
You owe us <loadsa money>

But we are absolutely happy to do this free of charge as explained earlier.

BW
libertybonds

We pay £30 a day for someone to stay here while we’re away - feeding our indoor cat twice a day and giving her company. It would cost me £16 a day for a cat feeding agency to come and feed her once a day and play - total visit time 30 mins.

I'd not mention it unless they bring it up again. Then I'd just reply:

"We have looked after your home, pets and plants free of charge. We've left it clean and tidy for you."

So you've not got the awkward "no we're not paying for your cleaner you cheeky fuckers", but it's reiterating that you've done them a favour, and left it at that.

What @@ReadingSoManyThreads says is perfect.

Perfect response.