My husband and I are starting to see that some people are actually homeless.
It also makes us nervous that profiles don’t show full names or have links to any kind of social media… I know this may be a privacy issue but I’m starting to feel like there is just no information on sitters for us to look at.
Hi @NataliaFH & welcome back. Some sitters have Airbnb and/or linked in profiles that you can look at. All of us have been ID checked too, in the USA sitters have had criminal checks as well. Whilst there may be a small percentage of truly homeless sitters, it would seem unlikely that they’d pay or, have the means to pay, the £100 membership fee 
It’s okay to ask sitters where they live normally when they’re not sitting. Some might travel full time, some might have homes, stay with family, have a RV and so on, there are so many possible scenarios. When you chat to applicants think of it as a getting to know you session for all of you to find out more about each other. The word trusted is important here. HOs aren’t even ID checked so sitters take their own risks of a different kind.
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All true, but it would be a complication to sue for damages if the sitter had no fixed abode or place of residence. And maybe they would lack liability insurance.
That’s why there’s THS insurance in place. For the exception not the rule @pietkuip A sitter not having a fixed abode has no relevance as to whether they’re a good custodian of your home and pets IMHO 
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Also good custodians can have accidents and cause major damage for which they would be legally liable.
The THS insurance has a seemingly endless list of exceptions on the web page. And I don’t think members can see the policy itself.
I don’t see how their home situation is relevant to whether they have an accident whilst sitting? We’re home owners but if we had one we wouldn’t claim on our home insurance?? It would be up to the HO or THS to fix
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If the sitter is legally liable for damage but THS would not pay because of a line in the list with exceptions, the sitter would have to pay.
In my country (Sweden) practically everybody is insured through their home insurance, also when they are renters. So that insurance would then pay.
If the sitter did not have insurance, clearly the home owner would be left with a huge problem. Suing abroad is difficult, suing someone without property would not be worth it.
@NataliaFH Are you talking about people who are nomadic or people who are homeless and living on the streets. Homeless in the US is usually defined as someone that has personal issues that prevents them from supporting themselves. If you are talking about Nomads, they are usually working or retired with an income. Also, I would think most sitters have profiles that tell you more about themselves. You can always go with sitters who have the information provided in their profile that makes you comfortable with who is in your home.
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@NataliaFH Hello,
I guess my question is about your definition of homeless. We have been traveling for a year and I don’t have a place I’m paying rent or a mortgage, utility bills. My “home” is in Germany today, will be in North Macedonia in a couple weeks, and then in the UK. My home is changing as we choose to travel the world. We aren’t sleeping on park benches between sits or begging on the side of the road. We choose to spend our money and time traveling the world instead of simply staying in one spot and taking the occasional vacation(holiday).
If that type of lifestyle makes you nervous, that’s your right. We have 16 people all around the world who have been very happy with us as sitters and even seem to enjoy hearing of our travels. In addition, I think we currently have 7-8 more scheduled. Our lifestyle allows us the flexibility that someone who has a fixed resident wouldn’t have. We are planning next summer’s travels around a couple 3-peat sits we have scheduled.
You need to do what is comfortable for yourselves and if you aren’t comfortable with full-time travelers, then just reject any of us that apply.
Dan
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Like others above e g @Cuttlefish & @Danandnan we are technically ‘homeless’ and have been so for 12 years!! The last 5 years we’ve done a lot of housesitting around the world- 76 sits to date!) And before that we roamed around in a big motorhome- so we had a rolling home but no fixed address. Home now is where the current housesit or family or friend we’re visiting is- right now on a housesit near Alicante, Spain. We are ‘homeless’ by choice and adore our freedom! Our version of ‘homeless’ is simply no fixed place to call home at this time. We have a small income which allows this and we are so grateful to have this freedom! We are also highly responsible and most hosts are fascinated by our lifestyle!
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@NataliaFH - Your comment implies that homelessness is always a bad thing. This is certainly not the case for those of us who have chosen to become homeless.
We gave up the shackles of having a permanent address three years ago. In that time we have ‘lived’ all over the UK and also spent varying amounts of time in Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand!
We are not rich, nor are we poor. We have no debt, everything we own we carry with us and are loving the life we lead!
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Reading between the lines, I suspect @NataliaFH is referring to people who are not nomadic, but who are using THS to stay in one location permanently without paying rent - regardless of whether that is by choice or circumstance. When I was active on couchsurfing this came up periodically.
It’s a well known secret that some people who work from home in big cities eg NewYork, London etc, don’t have a fixed address and move from pet sit to pet sit. The rents are so expensive they can save doing this. That’s one of the reasons it’s so difficult to get a sit in the popular cities.
I was thinking the same thing about the water/electricity wasting by doing small loads! If there is only one person, or two, there won’t be a lot of dishes to do every day. Why not add to a not-full dishwasher every day, and turn it on only when it’s full? As a homeowner, I’d be very happy with that! As a sitter, we just wash up by hand every night. I agree, there must have been something else going on here.
Ha. I have cats and while I’m fine with sitters being out all day and exploring my city, they have to be cat people. If I don’t see site cat reviews and photos with cats, there is no way they’d get to a video chat, and if they got to the video chat and couldn’t answer basic cat behavior questions (E.g: Pudge refuses to go to his normal eating station and is hiding under the grey upholstered chair. What do you do?) then there is no way they are getting the sit.
Im a cat lady and I’ve owned cats, have 33* x 5 star reviews including multiple for cats. Yet, I have no idea what I could do for pudge other than
-give him time to get used to us if this happened when we first arrived
-check if something is wrong with his food or eating station
-contact you to send you the video of his behaviour.
I don’t think it is alarming for a cat to act different when with new people so would assume it is a pudge thing?
Would genuinely love to know what we should do in this case, if that’s a general behaviour problem, in case it happens to us on a sit
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I probably owe a little more explanation. The situation is that it’s a small apartment and everybody has to be separated. Pudge’s eating station happens to be the bathroom and normally he loves it. He considers it his territory. But when there is a new person, he’s reluctant to be closed in. The solution is simple: Don’t get into a battle of wills with a cat. Feed him where he is. Just watch to make sure he doesn’t bother the other cat and get his food. I just don’t want a sitter who is going to try to pick him up and plop him in the bathroom. He’ll go there willingly once he knows you.
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Ah yes yes, i understand. Cats are the boss and they decide when they want to be picked up and where they need to be fed 
I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a general behaviour thing I didn’t know about (and should have known about 
). Thanks!
Cats will sometimes pine when their owners are away. Dogs have owners, cats have staff 
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Exactly 
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