New to this, and lots of questions!

Hello there! I’m new to this and have some questions as an owner.

Next year I am going to be overseas back and forth -sometimes as long as four months away from home. If I look for a house sitter for four months, can I expect them to contribute to the gas/electricity bills, or is this really cheeky? I think my concern is with the rise in utility bills. I am mindful of my usage and would not suddenly want huge bills while I am overseas.

I have no pets, and therefore the only thing I would ask of the house sitter, is to maintain the garden, which would not be time consuming.

My other question is - is it unreasonable to state that I don’t want the house sitters to have visitors in my home?

Thanks in advance everyone!

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A warm Welcome to the forum. You really will find members very helpful here.
There is a comprehensive thread around the untilities question, so do have a look at that…

Kind regards
Therese

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Hello @MaloryTowers and welcome to the forum. I’ll just address your final question, about visitors. THS has a strict policy on this topic, for both owners and sitters.

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That’s really good to know. :grinning:

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As I’m new to this, I suppose I haven’t thought things through. I think my concern would be that financially due to rising utility costs, I would be way out of pocket having sitters stay in winter, running the heating. As opposed to keeping the heating on minimal while I am away. I did read other posts where people were aghast at being asked to contribute to utilities. If I was looking to house sit - it really wouldn’t bother me paying a reasonable amount towards heating. I’m getting free accommodation, experiencing a new area and a new way of life.

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@MaloryTowers I still don’t consider a sit without pets to be ‘free accommodation’. Having a home vacant for an extended period of time can create additional costs and certainly more concern. Where I live, an insurance rider would be required, as the chances of forced entry, or damage caused by such things as water pipe breaks, electrical faults, or windstorms (and more) are certainly heightened. Angela can tell a tale of her having left her home vacant for just one week and the associated losses she incurred. A human presence in a home certainly has value. Most sitters still take on a lot of responsibility for a home, even if there aren’t any pets involved.

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Thanks so much for the information and it is something when I have definite dates, I can post on my ad and like you said, talk about it with sitters that reply. I am a big dog lover but have not got any pets, so this really is a lovely holiday for sitters. :grinning:

I think it depends on your home and location. If you have a lovely home in a fantastic location then that may be enough of an incentive for some sitters to pay towards your utilities. However you have to remember that sitters are still giving you a service. Full time live in security for your home plus a gardener would be really expensive if you had to pay. If you have a nice home in an area of no particular interest then what is the sitter getting out of the deal?
Personally, I would want to see your last years bills and, at best, would agree to pay for any higher usage than normal during our stay with the knowledge that we would almost be guaranteed to owe you nothing as we are extremely careful with energy usage.

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Hi Colin, thank you for your reply. Oh the gardening would be minimal - there is no grass, so it would be pulling out a few weeds. I would think an hour a month would do it. Actually that is a really fantastic idea - I could just ask sitters to pay anything in excess of the normal bills. I like to get as much information as possible being new to all of this.

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I think maybe you are jumping on my words a bit much. I appreciate that some sitters would not be happy to pay towards the electricity/gas and that’s absolutely fine too. In the UK the utility bills have escalated, with another rise coming later in the year. So it is something that I would need to weigh up. I happen to live in a beautiful area of Scotland, with stunning scenery and therefore I don’t feel contributing a little towards utility bills, is a big ask. But I hear what you say.

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I agree with Colin, and this makes sense. You would have to leave your heat on some minimal setting anyway in order to prevent pipes from freezing in the winter, and that would incur some level of gas/electric bill. Other bills to consider are internet, cable TV, garbage. In my area in the US, these items can be placed on “vacation hold” and reduced to zero while I am gone for a few months. Water/sewer bill is much lower when I am not home, but not zero. A Sitter’s willingness to pay any money towards the bills depends a lot upon their desire to stay at the home. Interesting dynamics, for sure.

Welcome
I think that is a good idea and very fair to ask (for long term sits) sitters to pay if the bills are more than you would typically use during the same period especially as there are no pets in the home. It is also good to keep in mind that the majority of sitters will also be paying utility bills at their own home while sitting for you.

We are very frugal with our heat etc at home and keep our heat at 65/18c during the day and much lower at night. We have completed a few winter sits where the owners keep their heat at 63/17 during the day and that is getting a little cool even for us when sitting/relaxing. We did however keep the heat at that temperature and snuggled in blankets. For a longer period we would prefer to pay the difference though and be comfortable.

@MaloryTowers, if you are going to ask Sitters to contribute to utilities, it would be really helpful if you put a number on it (or a range) in your initial listing. Sitters want to know what they are getting into when they apply for a sit. There are still so many uncertainties, but when it comes to money, at least there would be clarity. You seem like a reasonable, thoughtful person. You want that to shine through in your listing.

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Thanks everyone for all your input - it certainly gives me food for thought. @PVGemini, it would only be gas/electricity that I would be concerned about bill wise. I understand most sitters would be very considerate, but I really want to avoid suddenly having huge bills. I don’t even mind if the bills are more than usual, but it is more having a safety net if the bills far exceed my usual bills. @Kootenaigirl that’s lovely that you are so considerate, although I wouldn’t want anyone sitting cold that was house sitting.

I feel it is just about being open with sitters, and being clear in my ad. Those sitters who are not then interested, can look for something else suitable for them.

Our sitters have always asked us if they can have visitors. We want them to enjoy their time at our home so for us it’s fine. But you have a right to ask for what makes you comfortable! The biggest risk is on us, the homeowners.
We ask that they be employed full time so they are at home with our dogs. So we just reiterate what is important to us personally. We don’t ask for any money since for us it feels like a win win. But we do have two dogs and they are our priority. So they are supposed to be there with them the majority of their visit.
But again, it’s your home and what you have agreed on.

So do most people wanting sitters, have pets?

Hi @MaloryTowers and welcome. I had the same idea about requiring utilities contribution for our 5 month sit with no pets. But I think you should look at this a bit differently as it’s not about a sitter getting free accommodation. Looking at it like that from a sitter’s perspective you would be getting free home care and security. In reality neither side is getting anything for free, it is a mutal exchange of pet/home care/security for accommodation. Most sitters are very respectful of how you want things done so I suggest in your communications you mention things that are important to you like being mindful of power usage due to high prices. A good sitter will usually offer to contribute to power use if they are high power consumers for heating & cooling. To be successful in this arrangement, it’s all about how you bith communicate. Good luck!

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@Crookie It’s quite hard, due to the rising costs of utilities. I do understand most sitters will be mindful of their usage, but there may be some that are not. If I don’t highlight the utilities in the ad, then I could end up having high bills. It’s given me lots to think about as maybe it will just be easier going with my original plan of family and friends popping in.

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@Pawtastic - I don’t have dates for overseas yet. Funnily enough, the more I have read, the more I have been put off. Being new to the site, it almost feels as though there is a clear divide between the way sitters look at things, and the way owners look at things. I’m all for an easy uncomplicated life, and to me, this already seems complicated. Clearly contributing towards utility bills is an interesting one and while it has been pointed out to me that these sittings are not “free accommodation” - in my case, where there are no pets to look after, a few weeds to pull, and a stunning location, I don’t understand why anyone would really object to not contributing a little to the utilities staying for four months. But this is the way I look at things :grinning:

Hi @MaloryTowers I’m sorry if you have formed the impression that there is a divide between sitters and owners as that really is not how THS works, there is more that brings us together than separates us. Please also bear in mind that we have 100K members … the forum is just a small representation of our community, a very important one of course but opinions and attitudes are as different as the 100, 000 members we have.

Some personal experience … We (my husband & I) did an 8 month sit in Spain caring for a senior rescue pet. A stunning ocean view villa, the owner left me the use of her car and we were invited to have guests stay whenever we wanted. The villa was all electric and because we had lived an expat life overseas knew just how cold some of these homes get in the winter, they are built to stay cool in hot temps, in the winter they can be freezing and electricity can be expensive even without an energy crisis.

We offered to pay the utilities because I feel the cold dreadfully and did not want to incur extra costs for the owner, I know we were looking after their beloved dog but this was about our comfort and convenience, I needed to have “thermostat freedom” and yes there are those who would challenge that arrangement but it was our choice, it worked for all of us.

We had wonderful times with our family from the UK, cherished memories, made lifelong friendships and I adopted a blind Welsh Mountain. pony but that’s another story …

On the other side I had a beautiful home in Vancouver Canada, no pets, no gardening even it was maintained by the Strata. We would travel pet sitting and be gone for 3 - 12 months, we left our new SUV for the sitters and yes asked for a contribution towards the running costs of the home (Utilities at the time were extremely inexpensive) we were always inundated with applications and we had repeat sitters from Aus, NZ & The UK all happy to stay in a beautiful home and pay a little in return for absolute freedom to use our home as their own which included having family reunions and vacations.

A win win …

My point is that we are all different and look at things from a personal standpoint … there is no right or wrong just what works for those involved in the arrangement.

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