Hello everyone, I have just returned from six weeks away to find that my cat sitter has increased my monthly bill from an average of £130 to over £400. I had asked her to use the delay on washing and drying but this was ignored as when I returned she had just put a wash and spin dry on. I had also asked her to use two heaters, hoping she would use one at a time, instead of the central heating as this would be cheaper for one person, but it seems she had people staying and helped herself to two other heaters without asking me. I also left her enough logs to cover her stay. She left loos grubby and unflushed, two beds unmade, floors unmopped and unswept, bins unemptied, fireplaces full of ash and no milk in the fridge. Her point of view is that there were a lot of chores to do (feeding the cats, sending three things in six weeks, waiting for an engineer, hoovering before she left), but these things don’t feel like much to me for a free home for so long. I have asked her for £300 to partly cover the huge leap in my bill but she hasn’t replied. I would love your thoughts on this.
Welcome @MurphyW sorry to hear of your experience.
A homeowner can ask for a contribution to utilities but this has to be in the listing and agreed before the sit is confirmed. However no harm in asking retrospectively .https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360000154809-Who-pays-the-utility-bills-during-a-sit
Having friends over , did the sitter discuss this with you ?
A sitter should not be inviting third parties to your home without permission. https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360001881117-Third-party-policy
You can raise a member dispute about the third party issue. TrustedHousesitters' Member Disputes Process | TrustedHousesitters.com
For the other issues cleanliness etc you can mark her accordingly in your review which must be left within 14 days of the sit finishing.
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately she was a friend of a friend, so not done through trustedhousesitters. A mistake!
If there was nothing agreed in writing about the use of electricity or the expectation (totally reasonable of course) that you would return to a clean home then I think all you can do is put it down to a bad experience and move on knowing that for any future private sits you need to have a clear set of written ground rules written agreed by the sitter.
I would say though that the start of 2024 has been very wet and cold in the UK so you might expect some increase in usage over this period even for just one person in the house.
I am sorry you’ve had such a bad experience - it is very disappointing that people appear to take advantage in this way.
I had a similar situation! I do tasks more accurately and there are no more such problems))))
Hope it doesn’t make things awkward with the mutual friend. It’s a tricky situation but if it puts things into perspective a paid house sitter would charge more than £300 for 6 weeks and would have also used power. A cattery would likely also have cost more and you wouldn’t have had someone also looking after your house (albeit not very carefully by the sounds of it). They also posted things for you which isn’t really something that sitters are normally asked to do - not completely unheard of but not standard either - and dealt with a tradie which wouldn’t have happened if your cats were at a cattery. If nothing was permanently damaged and the cats were taken care of just consider it a lesson and next time go with a sitter with good reviews and give them clear written notes about what your home requires and what you expect but just be mindful that sitters need to be comfortable and may want to use heating and restricting which heaters they may or may not use could be a dealbreaker for some. There was an interesting discussion on here about that just a few weeks ago.
I really think the time is way overdue for some home hosts to stop wildly underestimating the true value of their sitters.
You have not given your sitter a ‘free home’
You have asked your sitter to care for your home and pet in exchange, ( rather than accepting a cash payment which is the norm for service providers,) your sitter has agreed to accept them staying in your property as their payment.
Your alternative would have been to pay a so-called ‘professional sitter’. If you chose to pay the ludicrously cheapest possible, you will be paying £20 a night which equates to over £800 for a six week stay. - and this isn’t instead of staying in your property, it is ASWELL as staying in your property.
Its winter, and unfortunately your sitter has used more electricity than you anticipated they would but, looking at the bigger picture, you have still not done too bad out of the deal.
Just wondering why you’re asking these questions on this forum which should relate to THS sits and sitters
Very good point @Colin I’m starting to get the impression that some pet parents/ HO are providing lack luster accommodations with no regards to the sitter being comfortable while caring for their pets and home. They assume the sitter should be grateful for a “free” place to stay. As you pointed out it is not free at all! Properly caring for pets is work. Free indicates no consideration be it physical labor or monetary value is provided or received. Quite frankly if one cannot afford to host a guest, be it a pet sitter or otherwise, in their home they should refrain from doing so. I’m considerate of energy and gas usage while I’m on sits but not at the expense of freezing to death during the winter or dying of heat exhaustion in the summer.
Well, “hoping” is not clear communication. Maybe you have been lucky that your sitter did not let the water plumbing freeze and burst!
There are several threads on here about heating and utility bills. I am sympathetic – as a frugal user of any heat, let alone central heat – I often am surprised by the jump in my electric bills when I’m gone. That being said, as others have rightly pointed out, it’s up to you to clarify expectations beforehand. Your sitter is not a mind reader!
Ask what a paid sitter would cost for that same duration, and remember that a sitter you pay will ALSO have to use utilities to keep the house and your animals comfortable.
Thanks so much for your thoughts. I did make it clear that she could use two good heaters and as much wood as she wanted as of course I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. I also asked her to use the delay buttons on the utilities. It isn’t a ‘lacklustre’ home but a farmhouse near the sea which I sometimes rent out. I don’t consider feeding two cats twice a day, if you’re not keeping the place clean, much of a service and given that she had guests to stay without asking me, who, it turns out, were rude to the engineer, I still feel completely taken advantage of and will be sure to use this site in future. Beside the unfathomable more than tripling of my electricity bill, if I’d known she had guests I would have told her to switch the central heating on instead - I don’t feel that leaving beds unmade, loos unflushed, floors filthy and plants to die (forgot to mention that) is acceptable and wish I could leave a review about her as I know she intends to housesit for others. If you’re a housesitter please respect your host’s requests and be sensible.
@MurphyW I support @Smiley’s comment, asking why you are bringing your comments about a non-TrustedHousesitters sit to this forum.
You certainly point out many unacceptable actions by someone who IS NOT a TrustedHousesitters sitter, who is not vetted by the company, and who you accepted without knowing personally. Certainly a list of red flags, in my opinion.
If you choose to become a TrustedHousesitters member, experienced forum TrustedHousesitters members (owners & sitters) will be happy to support you in creating an effective listing and sharing tips on how to screen applicants. Membership has its cost, but also has its benefits. 
Hi I just wanted some advice on what to think and possibly do about the situation from those with more experience. I’m sorry I hadn’t realised the forum was limited to regular users but am very grateful for your feedback. I have learnt a lot from it all, mainly to use a trusted housesitter from now on!
I don’t think it is.
And there have been similar complaints by homeowners about THS sitters in this winter. Even at constant usage (the kWh), your bill could go up. Then there is the thermostat of the central heating, which may have saved you some gas or petroleum.
Hello @MurphyW
Be sure to read the THS terms and conditions and member code of conduct before you join. Both of these present clear expectations for home hosts and sitters and located on the THS web site.
This will help you know if THS is a good and correct option for you.
You have received lots of great advice already.
That was certainly rude of the Sitter to leave your home unclean. Sitters should leave your home clean (and the home should be clean when they arrive).
One more thing to keep in mind: the Sitter might still have to pay their own utility bills for their primary home. Maybe their primary home bill was also higher than usual, as well, due to colder weather and/or an increase in electricity prices.
If I framed it as 300 pounds for 6 weeks of caring for cats and home, I would feel better about it. It is unfortunate that she did not clean the house at the end, and I would chalk this up to a learning experience.
deleted because advice was geared to THS sits.
If I were a pet parent, I would want my sitter to be in comfortable temperature range per their preferences and not mine. I would focus on the animal care first. It’s not a free home if there were responsibilities involved. It was an exchange.
As I said before! It is necessary to accurately discuss the terms of cooperation, otherwise there will be difficulties!