There can be quite a difference depending where you collect the car from too. Worth testing a few scenarios. We are currently in Latvia and airport pickup and return cheaper than in the city. We found different locations in the UK had different costs.
2 Likes
@Romina_Flummi, each person has to determine their own risk appetite. Legally, housesitting is employment in many countries. But enforcement may vary a great deal. We’re not going to make suggestions. But for context then the vast majority of related concerns on THS Forum appear to have related to the US.
We’ve completed quite a few housesits in Canada. Super beautiful in places. Skiing is a blast 
And some housesits have longer-than-average duration (e.g. Canadian snowbirds). One of our Canadian housesits - beautiful - was three months without pets. We’re already confirmed to return there in early 2026. Should you go, enjoy!
1 Like
Thank you for your input! I got a couple of applications a week or so later. One is from what sounds like a lovely girl from London. Just starting out - I’m going to stay in touch with her for sits next year. I eventually secured a sit via the main UK Housesitters site. The couple have very good reviews and also he lived in the next village up from us a few years back - hopefully, it will go well. I was just v interested to know if other HO’s had also noticed a drop-off in applications esp those of us who have had a lot of sits in the past and had good reviews where HS had enjoyed themselves and had a good time.
In the UK, unless the property is really cut off, public transport (although we Brits often complain about it) is pretty good. The trains aren’t particularly cheap (buses are and are used by almost everybody) so it’s definitely an option. We sometimes provide a car but we also provide bikes and helmets if people want to cycle anywhere more locally.
1 Like
@OnTheRoadAgain yes we are in the UK. I’ve recommended THS to so many people but obviously would be worried now if they took the plunge and then didn’t get a sit! We have had our dogs looked after for all their life, as previously travelled as air crew before retiring, but the THS format has been fun esp since we moved in 2020 as we have a lot to offer in our local area to do and our pets fortunately don’t take up much time! If I was a HS, I wouldn’t want to do sits that involved several long walks a day, quite frankly.
where are all the listings? I have had a search for New Orleans Mar 9 to the 20. After nothing shows up in NO, I zoom out and look from Texas to Florida. I haven’t seen one listing within those dates in the whole southern states for over a week. And I check a few times a day. I feel like the thing is broken but if I zoom out enough, there is one listing near Pittsburgh, PA.
Oh wow! That IS very good news actually. So you CAN sit in Canada? Obviously every person’s Immigration experience is different but I love to hear it. German Passport holders can stay for up to 6 months at a time, so it would allow for an amazing summer and enough time to see the place.
@Romina_Flummi, disclaimer - we are Canadian (and British) citizens. So, for us, housesitting in Canada does not require visa or legal risks. Your legal status may be different. That said then we do not recall reading many - if any - new stories or THS Forum threads about legal issues related to housesitting in Canada. Others may chime in if this is inaccurate.
BTW, did not know that Germans (and presumably other Schengen countries) can spend 6 months per year in Canada on a tourist visa. Canadians (and British, …) can spend similar total time in Schengen area but with limitation of 90 days in rolling 180 day period. Your visa gives more flexibility than ours - lucky you!
Gotta love your attitude. Excited to spend up to six months traveling in an unfamiliar country/continent. Way to go! Canada is a blooming enormous country - difficult for many Europeans to appreciate scale. More than plenty to entertain enthusiastic visitors 
There was news coverage of a sitter who was rejected at the Canadian border (entering from the U.S., someone who was from yet another country). They were carrying tattoo equipment, which led the Canadian authorities to think they were working illegally. So when they were sent back to the U.S., they were detained and later deported.
One of the early US border horror stories of 2025 was Rebecca Burke of Britain who taken into custody at the US border when she was turned back by Canadian border agents when they learned she would be doing an exchange of accommodation for household help through Workaway. The Canadian agent had a word with the US agent and she was taken into US custody, held for 19 days and finally deported. It’s the only border horror story I’ve been able to find involving an arrangement remotely similar to Trusted Housesitters.
AND I think it’s worth noting that border horror stories at border crossings have dried up since last Spring. My take on the situation is that border agents given encouragement to be more aggressive initially went overboard. The resulting news coverage, the ire of allied governments and the quick collapse of international tourism has resulted in CBP backing off on harassing tourists. If I were wrong, we’d be seeing new high profile media reports of the kind of harassment reported earlier in 2025. We are not. But the damage has been done and it will take years before the current concerns of international tourists fade.
None of this is intended to say there are no new high profile border enforcement horror stories. Only that today’s stories don’t involve tourists.