Headline: Urgent advice needed: Leaving sit early (12h notice) due to undisclosed lodgers & severe privacy breach

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Headline: Urgent advice needed: Leaving sit early (12h notice) due to undisclosed lodgers & severe privacy breach

Hi everyone,

I am currently on a highly stressful sit in the UK and need urgent advice on executing an early departure tomorrow (Monday) at noon. I am giving a 12-hour notice tonight to both the owners and THS support, but I want to make sure I am fully protecting my account.

The Situation:
Before applying, the ad made no mention that this house is a collective living space with permanent renters. During a video call, the owners briefly mentioned two women in their late 30s lived upstairs, but explicitly assured me that their section was completely secluded and that I would have the space entirely to myself.

The minute the owners left, the reality turned out to be a nightmare. The lodgers have to enter and exit directly through my main dining room area. They have been downstairs constantly over the last 5 days using the oven and doing laundry right next to my workspace. To make matters worse, there are absolutely no locks on the doors to my living areas, meaning I have zero privacy. Their upstairs door is left wide open 80% of the time. I am constantly forced to hear them arguing, on video calls, cooking, and doing dishes.

When I tried to gently establish boundaries and agreements on set times, they completely ignored them and met me with passive-aggressive, bullying behaviour. I feel cornered, tricked, and entirely unsafe around one of the women who is behaving very unstably.

The Homeowners’ Response:
When I complained to the owners, they sent me an email attempting to force a “co-existence” arrangement that feels like being a prisoner. Their email restricts my basic movements. They have forbidden me from using the living/dining room (which has the only table and chairs I can work at) or making any noise (like doing dishes or listening to music) before 9:00 AM or after 7:00 PM. Meanwhile, the lodgers are permitted to use the kitchen, laundry, freezer, and walk through my dining room completely as they wish. They even explicitly wrote in the email: “Please let us know if this does not work.” It does not work.

Why Pet Abandonment Does Not Apply Here:
I am leaving tomorrow at 12:00 PM noon. I am absolutely not abandoning this dog. I have gone above and beyond for him—walking him 5–6km a day three times a day. Before I step out at noon, I will walk him, feed him, and leave him with full water bowls. The two adult lodgers live here permanently and will be back from work at 17:30 to care for him, as confirmed by the owner’s email schedule. Furthermore, the owners have the financial means to hire a kennel or local friends to bridge any gaps until one of them returns from their vacation in Serbia. The dog is in an occupied, live-in home; he is not being left stranded in an empty house.

The Rules Broken By the Homeowner:
There is absolutely no prior written agreement from me consenting to this shared collective living setup. By forcing this on me, the owners are in direct violation of:

  1. The Guest & Third-Party Policy: The property is not vacant, and unauthorized third parties are heavily occupying my living space.
  2. Listing Accuracy/Misrepresentation Terms: The sit was advertised as private/secluded but is functioning as a shared rooming house.

Has anyone else successfully navigated a fast 12-hour exit under these circumstances? Will THS back me up immediately given the extensive email evidence and video proof I have of the lodgers invading my space? I cannot stay in this repressive, hostile environment until the end of September.

Thank you for your support and advice.

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OMG. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this. And in the midst of this, your concern for the dog warms my heart. You are doing the right thing by leaving. Insane that the HO tried to restrict your movements about the space, just shaking my head.

You are doing everything correctly (and I am a HO). This HO should absolutely be reported. I hope you get out of this soon. Please take care of yourself.

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Hello @Marmar

I am sorry to hear of your current situation. I have been in touch with the Membership Services team regarding this. I do hope that this situation is resolved soon for you.

Sam.

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For anyone else in a similar situation- the Urgent Support 24/7 Phoneline number is shown on your dashboard and is the quickest way to get the support you need .

@Marmar take screenshots of the listing/ photos / welcome guide / your messages with the hosts . Everything you need as proof of what has happened and that demonstrates you are not abandoning the pets .

5

Thank you for your kind words. This post didn’t get approved in time. I couldn’t get through to THS initially so I was getting atressws

I wrote the owners around 17.30 so at least 20h before I’d leave. And I finally got through to THS helpdesk, some hour later. At the same time as the HO replied to my message!

THS basically said I should offer to sit the dog if the third party would leave for the whole duration of the sit. I knew they weren’t going to prioritize the dog. But offered. Because honestly I would have stayed. The dog is just wonderful​:dog_face::white_heart:

The fastest reply I ever got was their firm no “please continue with your arrangements and leave our dog and home safe and secure”.

So passive aggressive. The obviously don’t care about the rules the broke, nor the dog. Or who sits him. Just that they can be on vacation and then pretend they are good people because they let the very weird twins live upstairs. Meanwhile the dog you got from your son. That’s actually your son’s dog, you take no real responsibility for and you trick people that fly all over from Norway to Wales because of your word to live under repressive and false conditions.

I’m just baffled how these people can seem so nice but do so much harm.

I’m really really good with animals. And I really prioritize them. They made me deviate from that because it was either my me tal health or the dogs routines and wellness. I dislike them for making me choose between myself and the dog.

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Take a deep breath, and the HO here are clearly wrong. I sense you feel conflicted because of your clear love of animals, but you cannot put yourself in harms way for that. You gave notice, no matter whatever THS or anyone says, you have the absolute right to leave this terrible situation. Please do so, report these HO.

I know you feel for the dog, but sometimes the best we can do is escape and live to fight another day. Hang in there.

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@Marmar thanks on reporting back on the advice received from THS .

If you want to apply for an alternative sit you will need to ask THS to amend the end date of this sit.

Are you a Premium member ?If so, you may be entitled to claim for alternative accommodation under the sit cancellation plan - because the hosts broke the terms by having third party living in the home during the sit forcing you to leave .

Once you have found accommodation/ another sit / returned home - you may also consider raising a member dispute .

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So, I’m curious about this situation. If the sitter doesn’t have a premium account, then they aren’t eligible for reimbursement if they need a hotel. If not for the misinformation/lies of the HO, the sitter would not have accepted the sit. Given all this, is the HO liable for costs incurred by the sitter because of their false/deceptive THS post?

There has to be some kind of penalty for a situation like this.

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If the sitter decides to raise a member dispute for the broken terms then THS will investigate the evidence ( that the sitter submits ) and if the hosts are found to be in breach of the terms they may either be given a warning or removed from the platform.

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What a freaking nightmare!!

I sure hope you are able to still leave a very honest review! (Assuming they are allowed to stay on the platform)

Am curious, did they have any reviews?

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I can’t see how they would be allowed to stay and use THS. They are not getting rid of the women who provide income to them. Were you the first sitter for them with no reviews listed? Sorry you went through this. Especially when arriving from another country.

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Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing and, reading about your situation, you say the owner mentioned there were two women living upstairs. I would like to think that, faced with that, I would have grilled her a bit more, but I may not have and clearly you had a good conversation with the owner who was deceptive. I really feel for you as it must be awful.

Well done to you for dealing with this situation and ensuring the dog will not be uncared for. You have received excellent advice here and I sincerely hope the owner is banned from THS as it’s unlikely she’ll get rid of the lodgers. As usual, the initial advice given by THS was unhelpful, just adding to your stress no doubt!

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The owner tricked you definitely. They prioritise the lodger’s benefits because they’re the owner’s source of income.

The owner probably just seen you as a free tool to exploit, therefore has no regard for your welfare.

I think all effort should be put into removing this owner form the platform and make sure they can’t leave you a review.

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Thank you. It means a lot to get emotional support here from so many. I actually was thinking about staying some time longer. For the sake of the dog. But he’ll be fine. They know the whole village and maybe the twins upstairs can help until the husband is back. The supports esk solved it within an hour. I mean canceled the sit and opened my profile for new sits. I’ll be going to stay with a woman that has a lot of cool cats for some days. Dto pick myself up and look for other sits. I want to be full on smiling and happy again for the new potential dog or cat​:smiling_face_with_three_hearts: they did waste a week of my precious time and I had to work extra in the weekend as to catch up with time that was spent talking with them, the lodgers, their friend and THS. Not to mention trying to figure out what to do. But the support desk/help desk was really good I want to add. And I’m Thankful for how they handled it. They said they were going to investigate the HO.

Sad that my first sit was a woman that didn’t disclose her dog was terminally ill with heart issues and a tumor the size of a chihuahua on his left chest plate. And now this. Meanwhile I’ve taken the best care of both dogs and will have no review because with the first one I told her it was irresponsible to lewve the dog in such a situation(I was up many nights monitoring his breathing for hours) and I didn’t accept the terms of this second sit in Wales.

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I was told they’ll be investigated. As I asked about consequences and protection of future sitters from being tricked into such a situation, like I was.

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I agree. The sit should have never been posted. Not to mention I was told the women lived there for years, which means the previous sitters also lived with them. But left good reviews and didn’t mention a word about the twins upstairs. Which I wish they had done. As I would have never consented to the sit if I had known it was a collective. But I am also thankful that the help desk solved it so fast and believed me. I had a lot of proof though. A long email titled “living together”. Opening with its been some difficult times or days or whatever. Where the HO “solution” is to continue to dictate and add all sorts of rules to the sit (silence after 7pm and how they can come and go and cook and do laundry as they wish and I should retreat to my bedroom+small tv room in the evenings). Ending it with “it’s a big enough house for everyone to live together”. They came home late last night and I got a heart attack from the door to the backyard suddenly opening with a slam and the dog went crazy barking too. So not cool. But it’s over and better experiences are around the corner​:cherry_blossom::white_heart:

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Thank you. THS solved it very fast and very good. My profile is available for sitting again. But I need a few days to calm down before the next one. As I want to give the next sit my :100:. I have a until the end of the month in the UK. I will look up how to raise a dispute after. Support desk said they’d investigate the HO. So that’s very good! I have a regular membership. But I might raise it to a premium after this experience.

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With two poor experiences now as a new THS sitter, I think it’s time to look very carefully and in detail at just how you first of all select a sit and then how you research the sit and finally your list of questions when you do the video chat. It’s hard starting out as a sitter to get sits without Reviews, but this doesn’t mean you should take just anything. I really hope you get a few wonderful hosts choose you now so that you can experience how it should be. Best wishes.

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This sounds terrible. I would have left immediately. Your own safety is more important than anything and the owners have been completely dishonest when representing the sit. The owners and tenants are treating you with no respect whatsoever. I hope THS ban them from advertising for sitters in future.

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@carpediem16 This is exactly what I was wondering. I am just thinking: don’t do any first timers (hosts or pet sitters) without a video call and without being able to see the house and situation by live video.