@Chrissie - really! How long is it until your sit?
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@Twitcher . End of July, but my membership renewal is next week, it could be something to do with that. Definitely not sent by HO, they are newbies.
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Very strange @Chrissie. I have a sit in two weeks but nothing from THS so far. It will be interesting to see if any more sitters receive the document from THS. If itās anything like the Cleaning Checklist it will be very hit and miss.
When I started sitting over 10 years ago I received an agreement from the HO. They were new as well and as it was in a list of documents on their dashboard so they thought it had to be sent.
Just to add the document isnāt legally binding.
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I would get as far away from these people as possible. Even if they agreed to you refusing to sign this nonsense and going through with the sit I would expect a raft of problems with them.
This is a red flag big enough to tent the house and fumigate it against the infectious diseases and biblical plagues they seem to think you bring with you.
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We wouldnāt agree to anything like that. Thatās why we are with THS. Weāve never back out of anything, but Iād back away from them, thereās no way Iād go ahead with it, Iād see it as a red flag, red flag, red flag. It kicks things off with mis-trust from the start.
Iād nicely and politely say that
āwe are bound by the rules that THS sets out, but I understand that is important to you, therefore we will remove our application asap so you can find another sitter and I wish you well and hope you have a great vacationā.
Which I would imagine you can do, because they breached your prior THS agreement when you accepted the sit. Iād switch off and move on.
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Personally, Iād never sign such a ācontract,ā even if itās not legally enforceable. Thatās because why trouble myself when Iām doing something thatās voluntary and for fun, especially when countless hosts arenāt crazy demanding and entitled? Iād rather never sit again than sit for nut jobs or people who are clearly going to be pains.
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@Betsysmom We would walk away from this sit. The homeowners are being unreasonable and this might be only the beginning of your challenges.
Run now, youāll be glad you did.
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I would not feel comfortable signing a document like this in general, and based on the examples of the content you provided here, this one in particular for sure. We are pretty easy going people and we prefer HOs who are as well.
Letting someone into your home and caring for your pets can understandably make some people nervous and I appreciate that homeowners may have varying levels of comfort with this concept.
Asking you to sign something so āformalā and detailed suggests a pretty low level. And the less comfort a HO has with this concept, the more likely it would be that problems could arise in numerous forms throughout the sitāwhich is very longāfrom unreasonable expectations to being blamed for issues with the home and pets that were completely out of your control.
This is something they should have broached with you much sooner, unless of course they only decided recently this was something they wanted to do because of something they read online or concerns raised by a family member horrified by this type of arrangement!
When elements of the sit change in such as way that you would not have agreed to do it had this condition been in place at the time, cancelling is justified.
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Then it is not this thing (16 pages)?
I have never been asked to sign anything like that.
So according this this now defunct document I would not as a sitter be allowed to:
āBe a nuisanceā¦.
ā ā¦.
Nor am I allowed to:
āBlock a sink or drain 
ā ā¦.
I can see why it was quietly dropped 
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The document is still there on my dashboard.
Really? I looked on mine and couldnāt find it. Gremlins again 
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Mine is on the Dashboard bottom left under Guidelines and Forms
3 PDF documents
Code of Conduct
Guidelines for House and Pet Sitters
Housesitting Agreement
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I just went into the desktop page and found it. The article was written in 2017 and looks like it hasnāt been updated since Carla spoke to the Product Team and the team didnāt remove it 
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So now I tried it through the app and itās not showing but I went to the help centre and put in āguidelines and formsā and same article as above from 2017 came up. Think itās time it was removed.
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We had one HO very early on in our sitting days that had me sign a contract, it was their own contract, it was about breakages and damages, they had many previous sitters, so idk if it was because of previous experiences or we were still only on our early days of sitting, everything was fine, it was a very nice old listed home so I understand they didnāt want anything happening that should not have etc as they had mentioned that they had a guest who then had his GF arrive from Spain a couple of days later and then his Mother from Portugal without asking the HO just springing it on them and not taking the Dog out for itās AM/PM walks. So I think they were just covering all bases.
We have never since had a HO ask us to sign any contracts/agreements, we have had our Licences/Passports for Insurance purposes especially if over a Month due to the HO Insurance policy/mortgage agreements.
If we are ever going to have guests, I ask in my application, my Dad is over from Aus atm and I asked all our HOās who we have arranged this Summer if my Dad can stay, he has stayed at 2, he has wandered off to Wales now, idk if or when he is coming back up to Cambridgeshire where we are, however I got permission first just in case he does come back up, the same as Christmas Sits we have friends who are on their own and I often have them all over, if they want, I always ask the HO if itās okay first and always say āYour home, your rules and we are completely fine either way and would never have guest over without your permission and would never spring it on youā
Being booked so far in advance and then sending through a contract would be a huge red flag for myself especially what they are stating, I would personally for us make it very difficult to relax on the sit and leave me wondering what are you not telling me here???
Happy sitting
Well spotted!
I hope @Carla sees this.
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Doesnāt just sound problematic. It is INDEED going to be a headache! Whatās up with all the bug stuff?? And you have to find those bugs in a certain amount of time and report if to the HOā¦if the sitter didnāt bring them. Too fishy. I pay attention to red flags now. I donāt care how āsweetā you come off. Or how nice your listing āAPPEARS.ā
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My HO waited for four months with numerous promises to have a guide ready. She didnāt even have it ready until the night before she left for her vacation. There was nothing on it!!!
I think these two cases are extremely rare. Iād decline!