Just wanting to sound out whether this is within THS guidelines or not, and what my rights are as a sitter.
I have a sit lined up where the owner has described an “open door policy.” That is, the main house door is open/accessible, because there are farm staff that may need access to the house. The owners says the farm staff will always ring the door bell or introduce themselves first. The owner has described 8 people who will be on the property over the course of the week (cleaners, gardeners, people who care for the farm animals).
I signposted the homeowner to the Third party policy guidelines. I think this is in line with the guidelines, since the owner has made me aware of the third parties, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable (for privacy and safety reasons) with the house being open access, or the lack of boundaries.
I’ve had sits where there are cleaners and gardeners who come on-site, but this has been at pre-arranged specific times, so I am aware when they will be there.
Thanks both for your comments. These details only came to light after we’d agreed upon the sit. The sitter is staying in “the main house”. I agree that even though this is in line with THS guidelines, because I’m not comfortable, I’ll withdraw my application.
" 5.2.13. ensure your home is vacated for a Sitter throughout the duration of the Sit , and that no third parties will interfere with the Sitter’s enjoyment of your property;" and I would certainly think that 8 farmworkers ringing the doorbell for various errands would interfere with mine (or indeed any sitters) enjoyment.
Many hosts have cleaners, gardeners,etc…and they are not expressly prohibited from having these people come while sitters are staying there. I don’t think THS can dictate something like that to them.
But it obviously has to be okay with the sitter since their presence could hinder the ‘enjoyment of the property’ as stated in the terms and conditions.
In your case, it sounds like it would hinder it, so it is reasonable to cancel since it was not revealed to you until after you accepted…
I think the true ‘prohibitions’ really apply to people actually living in the home while the sitter is there. And that is reasonable. For workers of various kinds it seems more a matter of discussing this upfront and getting the sitter to consent to their presence.
I am not sure what I would do exactly. If it was only a week long sit as you state and cancelling would be burdensome to me somehow, I would probably just do it. It wouldn’t be ideal but not the worst thing to put up with.
But if it wouldn’t be a big problem for you, or you really would feel unsafe in some way, obviously cancelling was the right thing to do for you.
I don’t think it’s just for people living in the home. People working in the home are definitely third parties. I arrived at a sit once to find out the HO had an assistant who worked out of the home. I was told she had a key and no regular schedule, she would just come and go as she pleased. I would say that’s definitely a violation of the third party rule.
As someone who works, I can’t have people coming and going in the house when I’m working, so the situation described by the OP here would be a no for me.
@laura358 The third party policy you posted a link to clearly states that the information should be in the listing and the sitter should know about any arrangements before the sit is confirmed.
So you can ask the owner to cancel the sit and if they don’t do so within 24 hours ask member services to step in and cancel the sit.
“ If they have arrangements in place for people such as cleaners, gardeners and maybe even maintenance people to come in periodically to complete tasks or help maintain the home, then this is allowed. If there are any arrangements in place, this must be shared with a sitter (for example, “gardener comes in once a week for 2 hours”) before confirming the sitThe pet parent should stipulate the potential for any third parties to be present during a sit by putting that information in their listing”
Absolutely not. The cleaner/gardener coming on Monday and Friday at 8 am for 3 hours is significantly different from almost a dozen randos just ringing away whenever they want to traipse through the house. Nope! Not a chance for me.
What are they accessing in the house and can that not be left elsewhere that doesn’t require them entering the home? If it’s something like to use the bathroom then an extra heck no from me as I’m not cleaning up after anyone else’s butts in the bathroom but mine!
Totally agree with @CreatureCuddler. A cleaner/ gardener coming at a pre-arranged time is vastly different from staff coming and going as they please. I’ve been in both situations.
Cleaners are commonplace and, at worst, a bit inconvenient. I was in a situation where staff tending to the land would come and go and it felt like a huge invasion of my privacy to the extent that I did not feel completely safe or comfortable in the property. This hadn’t been properly communicated to me prior to the sit and ultimately, THS had to intervene.
The problem with such situations is that the HOs are used to this and expect the sitter to be able to pick up where they left off, and to be okay with the people they hire behaving as they would when the HOs are present. I think the majority of sitters wouldn’t be comfortable with this. You’ve had a lucky escape.
We applied for a sit where the listing stated a cleaner and a gardener would be attending. After confirming, we were informed that cleaners (plural) would be attending on 5 afternoons per week, from 12 - 5pm, and the gardeners on another day. That felt just too intrusive to us, so asked to cancel.
@laura358 An open door policy for farm staff comprises part of a business, and sitters are not compelled to support with business activities (I’m sure that someone on here - possibly @Silversitters - will be able to point you in the direction of that particular T&C) so you’re well within your rights to cancel. It’s something we’d not feel comfortable with, either.
