We recently were asked to house sit for about 6 weeks - we have been living in our caravan while our house gets built, so we jumped at the chance to have a break from caravan living. We met the owner and about 2 weeks before we were to starting sitting, he contacted us and asked us to pay him $100 a week to cover electricity. Although I thought this strange, my husband agreed. We then discovered he wanted us for 17 weeks, but we could only do 14 and he was ok with that. We had already cancelled our van park booking, so really had to agree to pay as we now had no other accommodation options in our town. On moving in, we discovered that the house was significantly dirty - things we just didnât notice when he showed us the house - the bathroom, the kitchen, the floors, the cupboards, the sheets, the everything! I had to spend about 10 hours on the first day just to be able to live in the space, but have now spent over 16 hours of deep cleaning and am starting to feel less nauseas as each day passes and the house is more liveable. Now the question remains, how do I approach this aging gentleman, who lost his wife to cancer (which explains why the house was so disgusting) and tell him I donât think the $100 is fair since Iâve had to spend so much time cleaning.
Welcome @Linda72. Itâs unfortunate for the surprises. I hope you have something in writing about your agreement, even if itâs just texts. You donât want the owner to say at the end that the $100 was just a deposit while you were there, and you now owe the amount of your usage while you were in his home.
If you feel strongly about the $100 to offset the cleaning, Iâd approach the owner and say that although you saw the home two weeks ago, it was much dirtier than expected and you would like your time and effort to offset the $100. Better to have things clear at the beginning to avoid hard feelings or unexpected surprises. If he says no, then youâll know and you can decide to let it go or not.
We would never ever agree to paying utilities regardless of the length of the sit or any other factor.
It is unfortunate that you have been met with such a disappointing sit. Either you live with it or you leave - itâs up to you.
Welcome @Linda72
Is this a THS sit ? - not sure as you said the requirements went up from 6 weeks to 17 weeks - which sounds unusual for a THS sit .
With a sit ( THS or otherwise) itâs your choice to either leave the sit when you arrive if the conditions were âunliveableâ or choose to spend time cleaning to make it comfortable as you will be living there ( in your case for 14 weeks ) .
I note that you say that you already visited the home before the sit started . That was a good idea and that was the time to check out the cleanliness (look at the kitchen and appliances , âvisitâ the bathroom and ask to see the bedroom you would be staying in ) . So the owner could rightly say that you knew what you were getting into before you started the sit .
The $1400 ($100 a week) that you have agreed to pay for utilities is an agreement already made and separate to the cleaning issue .
If this is to be your home for 14 weeks and you donât have a back up plan it may not be worth raising the issue . However if you have a good relationship with the owner then no harm in asking if heâll offset one weeks or two weeks utilities against the cleaning that you have done .
Are there pets to be taken care of ? If you do decide to leave you must allow sufficient time for the host or their emergency contact to make arrangements for alternative care of the pets.
If itâs a THS sit I would suggest that you take photos of all the dirty areas to prove why you had to leave/ clean - (maybe too late now for this sit as youâve already cleaned it ) but hopefully some useful advice for anyone else reading the thread in a similar situation in the future .
All the best and please report back to the forum with the outcome .
It sounds like you agreed to pay ÂŁ100 before you moved in, so you should pay on this occasion, as that is what youâs had agreed to. But for us, we would never take a sit that asked for payment, simply because it removes the feel-good feeling of a mutual win-win.
You mention he is aging, and for us personally, we are much more relaxed on the cleanliness side of things for anyone over the age of 75, and weâre in our 50âs and 60âs, and actually clean a little more in-depth for them, even when they have paid cleaners, the paid cleaners only clean certain areas or do certain tasks, based on what they are paid to do.
If itâs that bad-bad cleanliness wise, then you must have been able to tell from the photoâs. To offset it against the $100 is silly, as you (or rather your husband) agreed to the $100 before you arrived.
You get to rate HOâs on cleanliness anyway, but personally with older folk I put myself in their shoes before rating.
Hi @Linda72
Youâve got yourself in a bit of a situation here.
I donât agree to sits where the HO asks for a contribution towards utilities. But youâre there now. If the home is unclean you can contact support@trustedhousesitters.com. Unfortunately this ship has now sailed. I think itâs going to be difficult to try and offset the cleaning against the utility contributions youâd already agreed to.
If the sit was extended not via THS then thatâs an issue and again Iâd be chatting to THS.
I am sorry to hear you are having a tough time. Not mentioning the utility costs upfront and springing it on you a couple of weeks before you were due to sit would have been a red flag for me and being a full-time sitter who is flexible on location, sit length,etcâŚI would have cancelled and found another sit.
The cleaning and utilities are not linked in any way, so I donât think there is much of a good argument there. A cleaner house doesnât use less electricity, and you agreed to cover this cost.
You said there were a lot of things you didnât notice when you were at the house but a lot of the things you describe as being really dirtyâthe kitchen, the bathroomsâseem to be areas that you would have seen fully. Perhaps you didnât tour the whole home thoroughly while you were there.
I think the utility costs and changing the length of the sit were both red flags that should not have been ignored, but these are the sorts of experiences that help us choose sits better in the future and minimize the risk of situations like this happening again.
While ultimately you would be free to leave, if you feel like you canât, it is important to own your choices, and the fact that you proceeded with a sit about which you had reservations. And my saying this is not to blame you and suggest it is your fault that you are having a bad experience. Rather, this idea of owning our choices makes it easier to deal with challenging situations because it makes us feel less âvictimized.â
Best of luck to you!
The agreement on utility fees is separate from the cleanliness. If it were me, I would have said no to the utility payment. But in your position I would leave it be and dock during the review for cleanliness
Sorry for my blunt reply, but you made one vital mistake. Agreeing to the $100 a week for electricity was foolish, so you canât complain now. Why would anyone do that! Suck it up or leave!
I think they are right to complain. When the HO comes with such a demand two weeks before a long sit, that is extortion.
Next time you are asked to pay utility bills either say no and walk away or ask to see their most recent bill. Even with the high prices of electricity and gas I canât believe he pays $100 a week. If you really want the sit negotiate an agreement. Personally, I would pay any difference. Too late this time but an expensive lesson to learn.
Canât really equate cleaning and utilities. He was obviously happy living in his dirty muddle so you really havenât done him a favour. Better luck next time.
Itâs quite hard to present your point now, because you had a chance to view the house beforehand and didnât bring it up right then and there. Had you said that you would like the house professionally cleaned before moving in, you wouldâve had some bargaining power, but now I think itâs too late.
However I do feel that $100 per week for electricity only is very high. I heat my house with electricity and in the winter I spend about $200 a month, with the outside temperature hovering around 0-5°CâŚ
Is this in a very hot area where air con will probably be on all the time? Hard to go back to the agreement now, but if you believe that you may be able to keep costs down, why donât you propose to him that you would pay the actual electricity usage as per billing?