Currently coming to the end of a 2 month sit. During this time, we have had a severe mold issue due to a heavy amount of consistent rain. The bathroom, bedroom and other areas in the house are covered in black mold where the rain has been coming in, which has now started to make the electric trip where the rain is hitting the lights.
We have contacted the HO multiple times over the past month sharing our concerns however with a week left from our 2 months, action is slowly taking place (waiting on a builder - hasn’t actually arrived yet.)
We have obviously put up with living in this condition for 7 weeks now and aren’t sure how to leave a review / whether we should have left the sit. HO has had sitters leave before but we didn’t want to let the HO or pet down.
Any advice on what we should do / should have done?
COVERED in mold??!! That’s a major health hazard. A lot of sitters would have left. Cheers to you for sticking it out but I wonder if TH member services would have advised you to leave if you’d contacted them. The rain isn’t the HO’s fault but having a house that allows that much infiltration of rain makes me wonder if this is a sit that should be removed from the platform. At least until massive renovations take place.
If they’ve “had sitters leave before” – again, maybe shouldn’t be on TH if there are ongoing problems.
You could still contact Member Services and ask what they advise.
And PLEASE, leave an honest review, outlining the mold. If they continue to look for sitters, those sitters need to be aware of what they’re getting into. I’d be pretty angry at finding a mess like that and finding out former sitters didn’t mention it.
Good luck – hope your final week goes fast and you can escape.
Contact THS on the Urgent Support Phone Line ( number is on the dashboard ) for advice.
What you have described sounds extensive and doesn’t sound like a problem for which there is a quick fix - You don’t have to stay at a home that is unliveable , you do have to give the host 24 hours notice that you are leaving so that they can make arrangements to return home or for alternative pet care .
A lot of these decisions will be based on whether the sitter has a Plan B for if a sit is curtailed- having a Plan B means that you don’t have to put up with unsuitable living conditions and can leave if necessary. Not having a Plan B means that a sitter may feel that they have to stay in unsuitable conditions and can get taken advantage of .
It seems that the owners must have known about the issue beforehand ( they have had sitters leave before ) so you should at the very least leave an honest and factual review .
You can raise a member dispute - and THS will investigate - call it a dispute ( not complaint ) . THS only investigate if you use the term “Member Dispute “ include photos of the problem , screenshots of all correspondence with the host about this issue . State in your dispute that previous sitters have left . THS may have already put this host on a watchlist and told them that they need to rectify the mould issue before having sitters again .
HO has let you down and put your health in danger .
Extensive mould throughout the home can also make pets ill . In this instance it may be the best thing for the pets to leave so that the host has to find alternative accommodation for the pets until the mould problem is resolved.
Seems like action hasn’t taken place, as you are still waiting.
As others have said - severe mold build is a health hazard. It could be really serious to people with allergy, asthma and lung disease (which they might find out they have because of the mold, they might not have had many symptoms before if they have lived in a clean environment).
It probably shouldn’t be listed as it seems unlivable conditions and breach of terms, unfortunately.
The calculation of «2 months» + «heavy rain» + «mold» equals to me that it is a seasonal event that the owners knew about (at least the risk for), and that the weather conditions might even be why they left themselves. Which is really unfair.
For the sake of people who will be really ill from it, please have a mention on the review.
As others have said, you must be completely honest with your review. We asked for ages to have a blind review system so, now that we have, you must be completely honest in your review as there can be no retaliation, although the owner can comment on your review.
As @Silversitters says, who always gives great advice, do report this to THS and let us know how they respond.
Looks like you are staying until the end of the sit, is that the case?
Are you looking after any pets? If so, what has that been like?
Had there been previous sitters? If so, did you read their reviews?
I’m so sorry you’ve been putting up with these awful conditions.