We are currently on a 6-week sit through TrustedHousesitters. The location is great and we are looking after two sweet cats, but upon arrival (after traveling 12 hours with our 1-year-old child), we were completely shocked by the state of the house.
During our initial video call, the host emphasized how much she loved a clean home. The reality was a complete shock:
The house looked like it had been abandoned for days. There was cat poop on the floor, 5 full bags of trash sitting around, and cat hair everywhere.
The hygiene conditions were appalling: mold in the fridge and bathroom, grease and dirt all over the kitchen and oven, windows that hadn’t been cleaned in ages, filthy washer/dishwasher, and recreational drugs left out in the fridge.
Basic essentials were completely missing: no hot water, no lightbulbs in most ceiling fixtures, and no clean towels or bedding (the provided sheets were covered in cat poop).
The sleeping situation was the worst part: our intended bed was full of cat hair and poop, and ‘Option 2’ turned out to be a bed frame stuffed with two Fatboy beanbags.
We spent the first two hours literally standing there in shock. Because we have a toddler with us and are committed for 6 weeks, we felt we had no choice but to roll up our sleeves. We’ve now spent a full week cleaning and fixing things up, with friends even coming over to help:
Bought a new mattress, bedding, and towels.
Bought and installed lightbulbs throughout the house.
Replaced a bathroom faucet ourselves (just so we could get hot water!).
Spent days deep cleaning to make the place livable and safe for our family.
Our dilemma: We brought this up with the host immediately. She responds on WhatsApp—mentioning she has mobility issues and had relied on a friend to prepare the house—but offers zero solutions or compensation. THS support hasn’t offered much concrete advice either. We don’t mind old or worn furniture at all, but this was a genuinely unsafe and unsanitary environment.
We still have 5 weeks left. To experienced sitters out there:
What would you do in our position for the remaining 5 weeks?
How should we handle the review? We want to be honest to protect future sitters, but we’re worried future hosts might think we are being overly picky or high-maintenance if we detail all of this.
Send the HO a detailed list of everything that needs to be fixed/cleaned and give her 48 hours to get it done. She makes the calls to repairmen, etc, and pays them directly with a credit card or something. If not in a decent condition by then, you should leave.
YIKES. It sounds like the house had to have been empty for some amount of time before your arrived - or was the HO sleeping in a bed with cat poop??
You are NOT being picky or high-maintenance to expect a real mattress and a bed devoid of cat poop. And light bulbs in fixtures. And hot water in an area where that is the norm.
Up to you on whether it’s worth it to stay now that you’ve put a lot of energy and expense into making it livable. No one would blame you for leaving! As for the review, the fewer words, the better, but mentioning that the HO had relied on a friend to make the home presentable and it fell far short seems important.
Do you have your own home? If not why didn’t you just go back there? As you didn’t you may as well stay another 5 weeks and leave an honest 1 star review.
Umm, wow. This seems like a caricature of the worst-case sit scenario ever.
If your description is truly literal/accurate, I’m trying to understand why you stayed & did any of these things — and now that you have done them, why the path forward seems unclear.
— The time to leave was “upon arrival.” Why do all of the things if you’re not planning on staying?
— The review is 1 star, with textual content indicating that you can’t recommend the sit to anyone under any circumstances based on the unsanitary conditions.
— Since you’ve revealed your concerns to the hosts ahead of time, be prepared for a preemptive “retaliatory review” at the end of the sit.
For future, examine hosts’ photos & past reviews carefully; only choose listings where past sitters explicitly note the cleanliness of the home on arrival. Perhaps also consider a live walkthrough of the living/sleeping space during the video chat prior to confirming the sit — there are ways to suggest this ahead of the call so they can anticipate it.
Sorry for your experience; hopefully something you can avoid in the future.
I would have called the urgent support phone line told them the home was unliveable- provided photos as evidence and left immediately especially as you are Sitting with a 1 year old - your child’s safety comes first .
Take photos & condition notes ASAP - such evidence will be required for the Member Dispute that we hope you will raise if sit is successfully concluded.
Consider what outcome you seek. Do you want to leave? Do you want to stay? This insight may help to navigate a clear - if difficult - path forwards.
Call THS urgent phone number - in app. Seek their advice. Ask any questions. Understand your rights and options.
If you are a Premium Member then read terms of THS Sit Cancellation Insurance and ask THS Member Services about eligibility.
Review other listings, if any, in your broad area. Assess if any are attractive. THS Sit Cancellation Insurance has a distance hurdle of 20 miles / 32 kilometres.
With a 1 year old, we’d leave immediately, with no hesitation whatsoever. They should never have accepted you knowing you have a one year old when their home is in that condition. Go home, go to a friends, try for last minute sits (which I know is trickier with a one year in such a specific area).
Without a one year old, we’d figure out a solution with the HO to try to help if we are able.
Wait a minute, why the heck does this person have animals? They obviously can’t take care of them. You should strongly recommend to the HO to think about rehoming these cats where they can be properly taken care of.
I hope you took pictures of everything you described. Definitely be honest in your review. It ain’t like conditions will change for next sitter.
Thanks everyone for your replies and advice. I really appreciate the review tips, especially the suggestions for future sits. I’ll definitely be more thorough when assessing a home beforehand.
To answer the question of why we stayed: we stayed because of the cats. The owner had already left to return to her home country on the other side of the world. Leaving immediately would likely have meant the cats being left without proper care, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.
We did briefly look into a hotel, Airbnb, and staying with friends nearby, but none of those were realistic options. Going back home wasn’t possible either, as our own house is currently being looked after by sitters.
As for the cleaning and small repairs, that was a conscious choice. The condition of the house made me feel that the owner may be struggling with depression or other personal difficulties. There were handwritten notes covering whiteboards and even tiles throughout the house, and the overall situation was quite confronting. I don’t know her circumstances, so I don’t want to make assumptions, but I felt compassion rather than anger. Nobody deserves to live in those conditions. I wanted to leave the place a little better than we found it, not because I had to, but because it felt like the kind thing to do.
At this point, I’d actually like to stay and enjoy the beautiful surroundings with the cats. My main concern is practical: I don’t want to end the sit wondering whether I’m expected to dispose of a mattress or sell unwanted items, and I also worry that the owner might feel hurt or judged by the changes we’ve made to her home, even though our intentions were genuinely good.
I’m taking everything you’ve all said on board, especially regarding the review. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
When you leave, you can donate everything you bought. And if you want to get rid of the mattress you bought, offer it to college students, who will be (re)starting school. Just take photos of both sides to show it’s clean and stain free. And explain that you’ve slept on it only temporarily. (Decades ago, I gave away a futon that way and college students came to pick it up.)
They might, and if the next sit follows shortly after the current one, they most probably will. The house will be much cleaner, with no mold in the fridge, working lightbulbs ++++
It appears irrelevant as you have decided to stay and are dealing with the situation you find yourselves in.
The ‘host’ is fortunate in that you are the sitter as many sitters would have made arrangements to leave as soon as possible.
There are other things one can do. Do nothing more and complete the sit. Leave a terrible review with varying degrees of criticism (which was asked about). Do more the get THS to act. Give an invoice to the host for reimbursing the costs of things purchased. I could go on. In the same situation, I would have done what this sitter did. I would have cleaned, fixed stuff, and stayed.
The owner might feel hurt or judged. However it’s more likely they will be grateful and if not they should. I wouldn’t worry about that when you have good intentions. Enjoy the rest of the sit and leave the truthful review.
That’s horrendous. What would I do at this point? Probably thought more about how this person put me and my family’s safety and well being at risk and let the empathy fade.
Document all that you can at this point. You don’t want someone like that to turn around and claim you damaged this or that, or that you are responsible for the state of the place.
It sounds as though she burdened this “friend” with the responsibility to clean the place up. Perhaps that person (if they exist) either didn’t do it or took one look and said oh no. I’m wondering if it was someone just stopping by to feed the cats and the HO has been gone a while. I’d ask some point blank questions.
I have had to buy all new bedding as well. I probably should have bought a new mattress in one circumstance; I became ill from the filth in that place.
On that note, I suggest buying a mold counter or something. Anything toxic like that can hurt you and particularly your baby.
I know this doesn’t answer your question but if conditions were genuinely as you describe, like others who have commented I am struggling to understand why you chose not to leave immediately and why you chose to expose your child to such appalling and unsafe conditions. You have stated in a reply that you chose to stay out of concern for the cats but the cats are not your responsibility, your child is. Presumably you have/had a Plan B so I’m not sure why you didn’t fall back on it. I’m sorry if you find my words harsh but I feel very strongly about this.
