It is not organized or mandated by the state. There is a bunch of insurance corporations. And they offer standard packages for “home insurance” where the rates depend on exact what kind of home one owns or rents. So that is then fire insurance, water damage, that kind of stuff.
Also included in those packages is personal liability. I must admit that I have not read the fine print but I have not seen much in newspapers about problems with overly narrow interpretations.
Of course, the legal framework for liability is totally different here from the US. One does not need to worry about being liable for someone else’s hospital bills - Sweden has a kind of National Health System so that kind of thing is taken care of by taxes. Also otherwise the damages that are awarded by courts for pain and suffering etc are very low in American eyes. I don’t think there are any lawyers here that take on lawsuits on a contingency basis.
In Germany there is also no general insurance and I guess @pietkuip was referring to a similar system in Sweden. We just have a private liability insurance, which everyone should have. This means it covers other people’s belongings, either inside their house or stuff they carry around (mobile devices, cameras, backpacks, whatever is portable). There are some tricky clauses, for example if you lend your camera to a friend, neither your nor his insurance would cover it. You would have to say you were around and he accidentally knocked it off the table.
For everything else there are special insurances, like for cars, buildings, rentals, dental treatments, health insurance,
We have travel and medical insurance. Not liability insurance. As a Brit Turk pairing it’s not normal to have that in our respective countries. There must be some liability insurance with THS for the HO surely? @pietkuip we also don’t sit in the USA
We also ask if people are vaccinated against covid (we’re entering winter…this doesn’t seem outlandish to me)
Previous experience with rescue cats, or in our case, experience with bully breed types and nervous dogs is another question we ask.
We also ask if they’d be introducing anything that may be novel to my dog that may seem trivial but could be new and worth us conditioning him to such as new sounds if they’re bringing an instrument or something like that
And given the current bed bug issues, we also ask if people are or will be traveling to a city that currently has a problem with bed bugs
…don’t ask about insurance but more so because we didn’t think to ask/consider what that would look like…
We have more but we also open up our video “interview” with a disclaimer because our questions do not come from nowhere and are asked because of previous issues we’ve had in the past: The following questions are being asked because of previous experiences we have had in the past with sitters that have made us uncomfortable, raised concern, or resulted in the creation of an unsafe environment for our dog, so we want to make sure we do our due diligence up front and do our best to make sure we’re on the same page as prospective sitters.
The feedback we get from sitters is that we have one of the most thorough vetting processes and comprehensive welcome guide set and typically, the people that we end up selecting appreciate that because it means less surprises all around. We’re also very transparent about why we’re asking what we ask and that tends to help people understand where we’re coming from.
If someone doesn’t feel comfortable answering your questions, it’s probably not a good fit for you anyway. Ultimately, you should feel comfortable and confident about who is staying in your home and caring for your cats. X
There is no private liability insurance in the UK unless you are a professional running a business. In general people would not have liability insurance other than for visitors to their own home so in this case there wouldn’t be any reason for sitters to have it. Clearly it is country specific so this needs to be addressed country by country. I assume this is something THS would have researched as part of their commitment to sitters and owners using their site. Maybe there is something tucked away in T&Cs which I haven’t come across?
@bakindoki
I think its good you have clear questions to ask sitters as you obviously know exactly what you need to achieve a good match.
The only question I’d object to being asked- at the video call stage- is if I’m vaccinated against Covid. I’d be annoyed that you had not made that requirement clear in your listing & therefore wasted my time & yours. Knowing that requirement I’d have just skipped your listing and not spent time creating that winning application!
No offence to your requirements- but my hubby & I would not be a match.
Regarding the liability insurance others have mentioned- as a Brit its not required nor had I ever heard of it till meeting my German hubby.
We have travel & health insurance, and car insurance. We expect the homeowner to have home & contents insurance plus pet insurance- especially for dogs should anything happen. We’d hope that this combo would cover all eventualities!
So far- thankfully- insurance claims of any kind have not cropped up for us.
Agree that all your expectations should be in your profile so that sitters who don’t match them don’t need to invest their time and energy in applying.
(In this case, the sitter didn’t write a message, so that was also a little weird!)
I don’t think they’re strange or distasteful at all, but (like others have said) be specific. Type of vaccination, type of insurance, amount of time, etc.
The more specific each party is, the match will be better and there will be fewer misunderstandings. As a sitter, I have over a dozen questions I ask homeowners during our first meeting, and I have had very few issues about expectations since I started asking them.
These questions to a potential sitter are reasonable, especially if they are mentioned in the listing.
What is not reasonable is an application from a sitter that has zero words in it.
To me, any applicant whose application does not include a single word is not a conscientious or detail-oriented sitter.
If, in addition to not bothering to write an application, they were actually offended by your questions, they are definitely not the right sitter for you.
The questions are a bit vague. As others have said, in the UK I’ve never heard of personal liability insurance for individuals. Also in the UK Covid vaccinations are not available for those under 65 years old this year.
We as housesitters would never have minded if you asked if we were familiar with rescue cats and had enough time for them. That is very reasonable question. And we also would not have minded at all if you asked if we were vaccinated although the time for that seems to have passed a bit since I know many people who are vaccinated have actually contracted Covid multiple times by now.
The only thing that would have thrown me off was the insurance business. I don’t know of any volunteer housesitters who are insured and it would have put us off but I would’ve just responded no and not said that it was distasteful.
The whole not writing any kind of greeting to you kind kind of makes it unsurprising that they might have reacted that way. It is a little bit Offputting for them not to have even written a greeting saying please look at our profile thank you so much or something of that kind.
I’m guessing it was the vaccine question that set them off. At least here in the US it’s pretty politically loaded topic. I say this as someone who is fully vaccinated and lists that in my profile. If that’s important to you I’d list it in your profile prominently so you don’t have to ask - you’d just be screening out people who are anti vax from the get go.
The insurance question is puzzling. Isn’t that what THS is for, to provide that ? I agree that’s something that a professional pet sitter might have rather than the sitters here . Or did you mean car insurance because they’d be borrowing your car or something?
In any case, sounds like it wasn’t a good match. Live and learn !
The THS insurance is quite limited. Anyway, as a Basic sitter, I don’t have it.
In many western European countries, “everybody” has a personal liability insurance, for damage that one causes in one’s private life. Apparently, the UK is an exception.
It is reasonable that an HO would ask if a sitter had that. (But one would need to read the fine print very carefully whether it actually covers when they did a THS sit.)
I’d think that if something is important for you to know, it’s worth asking. That said, unless it’s a dealbreaker like they are not vaccinated when you insist they are, if you “meet” for a phonecall or video chat, it might be a better time/place to ask questions so you can clarify or explain. For example, regarding your specific questions mentioned…
“Do you have insurance?” (What would be the reason you wanted to know…?)
• Are they using your car, and is that the insurance you are asking about and is it even available to them?
• If you are asking bc of damages and do you have the upgraded THS membership which includes this?
• Are you asking about personal medical, but if they get hurt on your property like slipping on the stairs, your homeowners would cover it, right?
Are they vaccinated? (Will you be spending time together, and do you currently ask guests or workpeople who enter your home the same?) I am very pro-vaccines personally and still wear masks in crowded places to protect myself, but if someone enters my home, these days I don’t ask. If you are very sensitive to germs and/or will spending time in direct face to face contact (or are using it to feel out their political stance) and it’s important to you for your comfort level, then ask. If they feel like this is too personal for them to answer, then you won’t invite them (and I’d guess they don’t vaccinate) so it’s good you asked.
As for the rescue cat…they might not know if they’ve ever sat for one. We have a rescue cat but never thought to mention her early life. Perhaps a better question is "Do you have experience with cats that hide from you, spit/claw when you approach, protect their food bowl, or whatever behaviors you are concerned about. And if they don’t have experience, is it a dealbreaker or are you really asking if they’d be comfortable with such behaviors and/or be willing to learn the things YOUR cat requires…?
Presumably, they have enough time for your pet as they are applying to a petsit, and you’ve laid out your basic expectations in your profile. Now, if your requirements are greater than typical (you have a sick pet that needs 24 hour care, needs to be let out every hour or two, needs intensive food prep or an oral medicine regime with a defensive animal, then asking if they are sure they have that kind of time would be important. Perhaps a more clear question is “How much/often to do expect to be away from “home” during your sit?” For us in a rural area with a very undemanding cat, we actually encourage our sitters to get out and explore the trails, beaches, old downtowns nearby, etc. We want them to enjoy their time here so they will want to come back, but most people who apply to sit for us are coming for our quiet, country house and look forward to being homebodies, lol!
The topic of vaccinations is incredibly nuanced, and discussions around it often require a level of expertise and moderation that goes beyond the scope of the Forum.
I understand that vaccination is an important topic, and everyone has their perspectives and experiences. But, due to the complexity of the subject and the potential for misinformation, I think it’s in the best interest of the Forum to avoid further discussion on this matter here. With that in mind, I’m closing this discussion to new replies.
I’d encourage members to look for information from reliable sources, consult with healthcare professionals, and engage in discussions on a platform that is better equipped to handle the nuances and complexities of such an important issue.
Thanks to everyone who participated in good faith about the OP’s original topic.
we also don’t sit in the USA 
