I have friends who recently hired a sitter, not through THS, and then had to come home after one of three weeks of their trip away as they were sick. They paid their sitter for the whole time but the sitter was upset they had to leave early and had no where to go in the interim. What happens under THS if this situation happens? Where would I find something about this in THS rules? Thanks.
It would depend if the sitter or owner had the Premium membership which includes insurance should this happen, although read the small print & members’ experiences of claiming.
Sometimes owners have allowed the sitters to stay on in their home, but that could be difficult… occasionally owners have paid for sitters’ accommodation elsewhere but that’s unlikely for long.
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@NAZDad this is a previous thread where this was discussed as it has happened to some THS sitters
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/home-owner-curtails-sit-by-coming-back-several-days-early
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@NAZDad In that situation the sitter just has to scramble to find other accommodations. THS member services just tell you to look for another sit. However, the chance of finding one in the same area that is available last minute is low (maybe better in some locations than others). So, that means paying for a hotel or Airbnb and hoping for partial reimbursement through the ‘insurance’ plan (for premium members). The possibility of having substantial costs due to last minute cancellations is one of the risks sitters take.
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That a HO may need to cut their trip short for myriad reasons is always a possibility and like another poster said, this is just one of the risks incurred on the side of the sitter.
It is not as if the HO is entering any sort of binding agreement to provide the sitter accommodation for the time period for which they booked them, and would be required to let them stay until the end date, or pay for alternative lodging, should they cut their trip short. I have been sitting for a decade and I have had a sit end early a handful of times, ranging from one day to several. In the first instance we decided to go visit family for a few days and then booked some sits nearby, and the rest, just got a hotel or an AirBnB.
How a given sitter reacts to this turn of events may vary, and while the HO is free to make a nice gesture of offering to let them stay in the home for the remainder of the sit–if a shorter period --or give them extra time to work something out, they are under no obligation to do so. And they definitely would not be expected to pay for alternate arrangements.
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Well, I don’t quite agree.
Then do you feel that sitters don’t have obligations either?
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@pietkuip Sitters are not required to arrange alternative care for the pets they were supposed to take care of, if they have to cancel or leave a sit early, no matter the reason they end up doing so. So yes, that applies for both sitters and HO.
Which doesn’t mean, that cancellations or terminating a sit early without a valid reason would be ok for either party.
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