Just accepted a house sit a few moments ago and then the owner disclosed that there are indoor cameras including inside the sitter bedroom (security cameras are on the listing as amenities but indoor cameras are not disclosed on the listing).
Apparently, the cameras are off unless the alarm is triggered.
I informed the owner about the no indoor camera rule. He said that he knows but can’t do anything about it.
There’s a review from a fellow woman house sitter but I can’t seem to contact her through the app and her LinkedIn ‘no longer exists’.
I haven’t booked any travel. What does a sitter do in this situation? How do I cancel the sit? How do I ensure the indoor cameras are disclosed in the sitting? If they exist doesn’t it mean the owner should not be allowed to have a listing?
Of course, I don’t agree with cameras inside the house. But I think we had a (kind of) similar situation recently, although definitely not in the bedroom - that’s just weird!
At handover, the owner said there are two ‘fire alarm’ cameras or something like that, one close to the kitchen and one inside the entrance. Should the fire alarm get triggered, the monitoring company would switch on the cameras to check if the house is burning down, and attempt to talk to the inhabitants through the camera. Otherwise, these are switched off. It was an older wooden style house, so maybe it made sense. It didn’t bother us, because we chose to believe these were switched off and would only come on when triggered in an emergency.
Your call - if you are not comfortable with the situation you can ask the homeowner to cancel the sit at their end. That will leave you both free to look for something else.
I agree that indoor cameras are not allowed (even if declared).
You only have their word the cameras are inactive unless triggered. Personally I wouldn’t be comfortable and their presence would be at the back of my mind all the time and I would be unable to relax.
This seems wholly unacceptable. Can indoor cameras be disconnected from power supply during housesit? Suggest contact support@trustedhousesitters.com for advice. If unresolved then consider cancelling housesit on basis of blatant breach of THS policy.
Hello SSM. This is easy to solve. Regardless of what the homeowner says, you:
Inform THS that you are canceling this sit. Call them today.
While you are on the phone, request that Member Services contact homeowner immediately to inform them it is against THS rules and the inside cameras must be removed. (Turning them off may not actually occur, regardless of what the HO says.)
In the future, during the video chat, discuss cameras with the HO before committing to a sit.
The rules are that any internal cameras must be disclosed and disabled for the duration of the sit So this isn’t against THS rules to have internal cameras .
“* Owners must disclose the presence of any internal and external cameras or recording devices when creating their home listing.
Any internal cameras or recording devices must be disabled for the entire duration of the sit. “
The sitter is entitled to cancel the sit due to the previously undisclosed information-
THS can advise the host that they need to include the info about the cameras in their listing and discuss with a potential sitter BEFORE a sitter is confirmed .
I did contact THS and they confirmed the policy and showed concern, particularly for the bedroom cameras and that they are connected to the security system (that can’t be disconnected).
They asked for a screenshot of the messages showing that there were indoor cameras and to see that it was mentioned after confirming the booking.
They said they would reach out to the owner to investigate. They said that I had to ask the owner to cancel the sit. They could not cancel the sit on the grounds of policy violation.
Fortunately the owner did when I asked but there doesn’t seem to be any recourse if he didn’t cancel. He is still messaging me and sent the link to the policy and said outdoor cameras are fine and indoor cameras were ok if disabled.
These are common in many security systems particularly in certain countries.
They will be within the terms of THS as they are deactivated unless the alarm system is set and it’s then triggered. When the alarm system is set to active and the alarm triggered either the homeowner or you (if added to the system) will receive images from the cameras or a monitoring company who are in turn able to attend or contact police.
If you are not comfortable with this then cancel the sit.