Trusted House Sitters

[mumofkyle]

Has anyone used Trusted House Sitters? It sounds too good to be true - you pay an annual subscription and you get access to people who will come and live at your home and look after your pets free.

This would be ideal for us as our beloved dog hates being anywhere other than our home.

Anyone with any experiences I would be really grateful to hear.

I haven't, but I do have a friend who house-sits for them. She and her husband really seem to enjoy it and take looking after the animals etc very seriously. I think she said that both the sitters and the householders write reviews of each other.

Yes. I've been using them for several years but to look after cats. I've had good experiences for the most part but there have been a couple of issues with the idiosyncrasies of our house and the housesitter being stoic about not disturbing us.

I think it depends on your house/location about which housesitters will want to sit for you. Good housesitters who have a lot of reviews will probably have regular sits.

I contact previous sitters for availability before I look for anyone new. I use good photos and descriptions to "sell" our house and cats. Anyone who applies, I check references, have a Skype/ phone call and make a decision. I might have to shortlist but always tell people that I'm talking to other sitters and ask if I might contact them again if we go on another trip.

As a house owner, I have a full information pack ready and the house is never cleaner than when I leave for a holiday!

I'd recommend them - but it is not without some amount of work on your part and not being precious about strangers in your house.

Thank you, that's really useful. Is there really no payment involved? We've had a lady say she house sits and looks after pets but charges £45 a night

No, once you've paid the membership, you don't have to pay the sitters anything. I try to leave something (always basics but a bottle of wine if I know they drink or a voucher for a meal) or bring back a gift but it can be difficult when you don't know someone and they're heading straight back to the airport.

Also, it's probably not best suited for one night trips. A housesitter might not want to travel a long distance unless they have to be in an area for a specific reason.

My DSis has used them plenty of times for her dogs. There's usually a 20% off code around to reduce the cost of the annual membership fee.

Thank you again; we will give it a go.

I've got a friend that does it. They do it as they love animals and they get to visit new places for free- they've travelled all over for it. If you live in a nice place then you might be surprised at the interest!

This sounds promising, the dog came back half his weight and slept for 4 days solid after his last stink in kennels. Will definitely look into this.