It’s specifically against the agreed T&Cs so no it’s not for the HO/PP to decide…. unless they wanted to booted off the site I suppose….
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I am a professional pet sitter in the U.S. as well as a TH sitter, and I agree it’s very annoying to know that I’m seen on cameras outside the house. I’m used to going in and out of my house without worrying if I’ve combed my hair, if I’m wearing a dirty shirt, etc. It feels extremely intrusive! However, I don’t ask the homeowner to turn them off because then I sound shady. Not at all - I just feel self-conscious if I need to pick my nose or if I haven’t showered or something lol. I just don’t appreciate being watched - it’s downright creepy! At the moment I’m taking care of two different cat families locally (once a day visits) whose parents have multiple indoor cameras. It seems this is more of an American thing (why am I not surprised🙄) and I absolutely hate it but accept the assignments because this is how I earn my living. Both of them have sent me messages saying they saw one of the cats do such-and-such or mentioning they noticed the dry food was getting low, etc. I would love to say, “Yes, that’s why you hired me - to check these things once a day. Maybe you should try to enjoy your vacation now!” Of course I wouldn’t be that rude, but I find it very annoying to be micromanaged from afar when I am following their instructions to the letter.
So far, I haven’t detected any THS HOs having indoor cameras, but I always sit in the U.S. and I’m sure at some point one of my sits will have them, in which case I will try to figure out how to know if they disabled them for my sit.
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I too sit with my family and the very few times there have been inside cameras we’ve always been told where they are and that they are unplugged.
We’ve only encountered one sit where one was still active and it was a camera that pointed directly to their large expensive salt water fish tank/equipment. It was there to monitor water levels so that the owner could see if anything was wrong with the system.
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@Elainesousa your opinion on the matter is irrelevant when use of a camera inside the home is strictly against the rules of THS.
If you sit outside of this platform then do whatever you want but please do not advocate for owners to spy on their sitters here in direct contravention of the agreed upon exchange basis.
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you are lovely thank you!! Yes I am feeling greatly reassured and what a gorgeous support this forum is. We’ve travelled a lot but it’s the first time it’s just me and my daughter and the first time we’ve done ‘formal’ house-sits. We’ve done lots of them for family, friends and friends of friends which I was so chill about so I don’t actually know why I was stressing lol. You’re a gem, thank you 
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that’s a great idea thank you
Two of my sits, in the U.K., have had indoor cameras. Both times the HO pointed out the cameras and said they would turn them off. This is as it should be
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I don’t know if @admins are reading through these but cameras inside homes are an issue. We did a sit where we had cameras in every room in the house on while we were there but we’re told “they don’t record” but they could be looked at any time. We felt uncomfortable about objecting because we were already in our sit and we didn’t want animosity. The sit turned out great and we learned about THS’s no can policy.
Same HO, we were in their city and agreed to say hello since we all clicked really well. They told us they had a sitter who pointed out that they weren’t supposed to have indoor cameras… The HO began telling us that they yelled at the sitter saying that it was their house and that they could have whatever they pleased in their house.
It seems that the no camera indoors thing is not explicit enough. It needs to be enforced in a better way. I am a sitter and a home owner and it’s an issue that as a home owner, it’s not explicit enough and as a sitter one faces possible abuse from HO’s who feel entitled to have cameras in the home.
Ths, please address this. We have been in a few properties with cameras and it really is unfair to leave the burden of reminding a HO about inside cameras to the sitters who then face potential apprehension from HO’s who find it easy to either overlook or act aloof about cameras.
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What would be a better way for THS to enforce? If there are jerks like the hosts you mentioned, it would still require sitters to report them.
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Perhaps a box to tick confirming that ALL internal cameras would be disabled during the sit…. any HO not clicking the box wouldn’t be able to confirm the sitter.
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These types of hosts apparently think they can do whatever they like. And various hosts aren’t above lying, unfortunately.
In various jurisdictions, secretly videoing visitors is against the law, despite what some hosts think. If I discovered this as a sitter, I’d consider filing charges against them, depending on the circumstances.
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But in this case it was not secret anymore.
The only option is to leave. Let the HO yell as loud as they want.
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This is an example of possible secret recording, but I was speaking more broadly. Various sitters have mentioned discovering cameras after the fact, including having walked around in states of undress. And BTW, OP mentioned potentially sitting with their teen kid. In some jurisdictions, recording minors could be classified as child pornography, not just invasion of privacy.
I’ve been house sitting in Australia for the past year and most houses (at least in the state I spend most of my time in) have outdoor cameras of some description. My current house has at least 6 external cameras. In one of my early sits the camera near the pool put me off from going for a swim even though that had been one of the things that attracted me to the sit. Tbh I’ve gotten over that now, after all pools at hotels etc are also camera monitored.
As far as I’m aware I’ve only encountered one internal camera which was part of a pet feeder. The owner had spotted that model when they were themselves on a sit and so bought one for their pet. If it hadn’t been taped to the floor I would have just moved it to face a wall as it creeped me out and based on the red ring it was either self activating or the owners were watching occasionally. I do stare more into bookshelves and clutter now than I used to in case there are any cameras hidden away but I don’t really change my behaviour when I’m on a sit because of the possibility that they may or may not be there.
Having had you previously stay without receiving any objection to the camera the owners likely had the wrong impression of what sitters would accept . This also happens when sitters accept third parties to the home . Hopefully as you had built a good rapport with them you were able to kindly inform them of the THS rules on internal cameras hopefully they took this onboard so that it won’t be an issue for future sits .
Since sitters are the only representatives of THS that owners meet and converse with it’s up to us to educate owners on the rules - if and where necessary . Facilitating a good sit experience for ourselves and for future sitters.
We do this on many aspects of the sit such as asking for adequate storage space for our groceries or clothes and discussing the arrangements for paying any emergency vet bills .
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The key difference if a host is recording someone in their home without permission is that it can cross the line into criminal behavior in certain jurisdictions. No one is responsible for educating any host on potentially illegal behavior.
Of course circumstances vary, but this is an example of an extreme case: Son of Buc-ee’s co-founder accused of filming invasive recordings with hidden camera in family’s vacation homes.
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I think this is a wonderful idea. A gentle reminder that outdoor cameras are ok but that indoor ones aren’t is a huge plus.
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Tbh, we didn’t object initially out of fear to not have a place to stay, we ourselves had house sitters with our pets so we weren’t in the conditions to come back to our own home as we wanted to, and yes, we did tell them during that conversation (when we said hello) after hearing their story and the tone changed a bit, they just kept saying that the cameras don’t even work because they don’t rec
My two cents. Any common areas bring on the cameras. Why because it protects me as much as it does the Ho because I’d something goes wrong or missing it’s on tape. I work in healthcare it’s the first suggestion I make get cameras! Obviously not in private area bedroom or bathroom but living kitchen etc perfectly welcome
No. They are not welcome anywhere inside a house with sitters in it (even outside is questionable TBH). They are against THS Ts & Cs and no one should be encouraging or agreeing to their use on this platform @PrincessPetProtector #againstthecodeofconduct
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