Trusted housesitters

[biedrona]

Has anyone successfully used trusted house sitters?
I am considering this as my boarders upped the rate to rather unsustainable level. Perhaps this is an alternative solution? This is where verified pet sitters stay in your home while you are away. You pay a one off annual fee to TH via their website.

I neatly did it and found what I thought was a perfect sitter.. until she said she expected to turn up at our house just after we’d left. I told her I’d be more comfortable meeting the person staying in our home if only briefly.. but she wasn’t having any of it.

This is the bit I can’t get my head round. I’m the least house proud person I know and as long as rookiedog has a friendly face he is generally fine, but the thought of letting a total stranger that you might meet for a few minutes get free reign to house and dog, is quite scary to me.

Funny you say that, I am Edinburgh too. I think people really just want to get free accommodation and worry they will not care for pets

I am waiting for new applications. All the ones I had previously had almost no experience, one person I contacted again said she is really interested in coming to Edinburgh in August. I wonder why

I signed up with THS about 18 months ago, but had a very unhappy experience. Two apparently suitable sitters applied. One pressured me heavily to allow her to bring her own dog, which was simply not doable. The others seemed great, but cancelled on me a month before the trip and then turned viciously unpleasant when I objected. I ended up complaining to THS and got my membership fee back.

I've been using THS for about 3 years now for my two indoor cats. No major problems - although I've been quite taken aback by a couple of sitters who obviously hadn't been cleaning out the litter tray as often as I would. It's a small flat, so I can only imagine they had no sense of smell! But the cats were happy, the sitters sent regular updates and photos, and otherwise the place was left clean and tidy.

Read all reviews very carefully, and do video calls with prospective sitters.

The one bad experience I did have was arranging a second sit with one sitter who then just vanished with a couple of days to go. Unfortunately, we hadn't confirmed that sit through the website, so I just had to very quickly advertise the sit and was able to get someone else at very short notice.

As I started this thread, I thought I come back and update you on my first TH experience.
After I confirmed a couple of sitters they cancelled on me a week later so was quite disappointed. Decided to give it a go with another sitter. I could not have been more pleased with how she cared for my dog or my flat. It has been a thoroughly positive experience and I would definitely repeat. I hope this helps somebody.

We have used for several years for our cat. No issues. We always have loads of applications so I just turn down as many as I need to and pick someone suitable.

I only allow couples or families, no single sitters as I know a few other people have had problems when sitter was ill, or realised it was too much work alone ( they have dogs though). And if something happens Like pet ill, powercut, snow, leak I feel it’s easier for two adults to help each other or similar.

We have separate accommodation for them which makes it’s far easier and more attractive tbh. And I always start sit day before we leave so we can meet and show around the afternoon beforehand.

We are looking at joining up as we need someone to look after our dog and cat in the Spring. For pet owners, what is the difference between Standard and Premium membership? Do you need to provide food? How do you prevent parties etc from happening? Whilst I will leave the house clean, do I need to get it professionally cleaned?

I have premium membership. The different levels of membership and what you get for them are detailed on the website, but from memory the biggest advantage is that if the sitter cancels at short notice or has to leave early, then I'm covered for costs incurred getting a paid sitter or for a cattery.

You also get free use of an airport lounge twice a year - I've never used an airport lounge before, but am taking advantage of this in February as I'm taking two flights to get my destination then.

There has been a bit of upset over the past couple of weeks as Trusted Housesitters has introduced a confirmation fee (£9) paid by both sitter and pet owner at the time of booking. This doesn't apply if you have Premium membership, but it was introduced without any prior discussion or warning, and people are very annoyed about that. That said, some people have looked at alternative pet sitting websites, and reckon that THS still is the best one. There's a FB group where all of this has been shouted about discussed.

Have a look at the website and see what level of membership works best for you. It's always worked well for me. I do a video call beforehand with the sitters to get a sense of who they are, and look for those with lots of good reviews.

I don't provide food, although I usually leave about £20 in case they need to buy more Dreamies!

I've never considered them having parties, but sitters are usually from somewhere far away, and don't know anyone locally.

And I just leave the house clean and tidy - no special cleaning needed.

I have been a sitter. Mostly when I have had a gap in work or been able to remote work. I mostly did it because I didn't have pets at the time and really missed being around animals.

I have my own pets now but if I found myself without them I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

I've had two very positive week long experiences and my sister had also had similar positive experiences. I live in a popular area and I have been fussy, the site includes an option for insurance if the house sitting deal falls apart. My sisters last sitters were digital nomads who pretty much sit all the time, they fixed lots of little bits in the house...like a noisy tumble fryer, loose plug socket...The first time, I paid for the sitter to stay nearby in a hotel the night before we went so they could get to know our dog over two days/walks. It also meant I got to know them a bit. I would do it again and would def consider being a sitter too.

In terms of how you know they won't have parties-you don't, but why would they have a party at your house vs their own house? I've done 25+ sits now and not a single person has been to any of the houses (as it's totally inappropriate!) other than one sit where it was an hour away from my partner's sister (4 hours from our own home) the listing said no overnight guests which suggested day guests were fine, and we politely asked specific permission for his sister to come for lunch which was granted by the lovely homeowner. Homeowners would have never known tbh, but we wouldn't have dreamed of doing it without express permission.