Randomly, I have noticed that ‘Greater London’ in the search filters brings results that I would consider ‘London proper’ ie within reach of a tube (and I’m a Londoner) and ‘London’ brings up sits that definitely encroach into Greater London ie the Home Counties and could be as much as an hours journey out of London 
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My house is a little further out and not on the tube, but rail links mean that central London is only 20 minutes away! It took me longer to get there when I lived by a tube station in Zone 2! 
The sits that are an hour out, I find very disingenuous to list as London. The HOs may be happy to commute for an hour each way to a job in the city (for example), but for a sitter, that’s a long, expensive journey. If you’re a sitter who’s hoping to have a couple of trips into central London to look at Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, or some other tourist site, you might not be able to make that work if you’re caring for a dog and have a full 2 hours of journey time.
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not to mention the length of time you’d be leaving the pets alone just to go and see the sights. If I want to see London, agreeing to look after a dog in Woking, for example, is crazy. By the time you’ve travelled 45 minutes into Waterloo, have a quick walk around and travel back, you are over the time you can leave a dog alone.
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I have a lot of hosts for cat sits in London set as favourites and I see notifs come in for new sits almost daily. As many have mentioned, the sits are not always marked as London but by suburbs or boroughs of London.
Some locations are quite handy for getting to/from London by train (say 1 hour or so). I did sits in Tunbridge Wells (Kent) and Brentwood (Essex) and did day trips to London during the sit to see plays/theatre. For locations that I am not familiar with, I often do a query on https://www.thetrainline.com/ to see how long it takes to get to London from the sit in question. However, I rarely buy tickets from them as I find that some other sites are cheaper, eg https://www.gwr.com/ and https://www.lner.co.uk/
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Just looking for an Easter sit in London and very surprised to see NONE! In fact I can’t find a single sit in London - if I type in London I get areas around London, but not in London. Does anybody know what’s going on? It seems inconceivable that not one member is looking for a sitter over Easter.
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I agree they are few and far between. I have been looking (not for Easter but for later April / May) and generally there are around 15-20 in what I would term London ‘proper’ rather than the Cambridge, Colchester etc that also appear until you focus in the search map although not necessarily for Easter. I think it is related to the change in the application process (sits closing after 5 applications have been made) as the difference has certainly been very marked since that was introduced. I was actually very fortunate to be looking at the weekend and was the first applicant for a two and a half week sit in London which within, 2 hours or so, had 4 further applicants. It then closed to ‘reviewing applications’ and I had a video call last evening and was offered the sit. So, it seems it is very much luck - I don’t rely on notifications on the app to tell me when new sits appear but just check into the website regularly when I am looking for sits. It’s cumbersome but given the new process appears to be here to stay it seems the only way to have any chance of securing sits in popular areas. By the way I took a look after reading your message and there are a small number of London sits which cover the Easter period being offered as of this morning. So good luck - I hope you find something.
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@LizBCN I totally think and agree with you that the new five rule has a HUGE bearing on why there are so few London sits showing. I have noticed the dramatic change myself since the introduction. They may have been advertised but after the five was reached they disappear. Absolutely wrong the whole five thing.
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Welcome, @segdef!
London sits will go fast, due to the 5-app rule. Also, many PPs will have already made Easter plans and posted them a while ago. You can make a saved search on the app and watch as new sits will pop up, but they may hit the 5-app pause very quickly. That’s why you won’t see them on a normal search. I guess it’s a case of supply and demand.
Best of luck!
I see several nice London sits available today. Unfortunately I won’t be applying because I have other travel plans or plans at home. Or the dates are peek travel dates and airfare is high. When I saw previous sit opportunities that met my travel budget, I didn’t see them in time to apply. Sometimes what make a sit appealing is that it fits my budget.
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I think Italy has the same problem as London - it’s a popular place with fewer sits in general. We’ve been looking for housesits in Italy all winter and haven’t seen a single one on my saved search for September. I suspect it’s because when the email is sent out around noon (my time), the few sits that are posted, are already filled.
Every once in awhile, I get a notification in the morning that shows one that I’ve favourited but obviously when I click it, it’s reviewing applications. I often take a screenshot when this happens. We have booked an apartment in Lucca for September which have to confirm by July 31 if we can’t find a housesit.
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At the end of January, I confirmed two London sits for April.
I think that in general the London sits get to the “reviewing applications” stage very quickly. Many Easter sits for London will already be all confirmed but there are likely to be new ones turning up - the so-called “last-minute” ones?
Good luck - you will need to move quickly when you see a London listing at any time of the year!
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I just saw what I would call a London sit for Easter hols 4-11 April in Orpington - 20 mins by train to London Victoria
Edited to meet community guidelines
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Have sent you a DM about September in Tuscany 
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Useful tip, thanks Evie_77! 
I’m just doing my first House/Pet Search after several months, from before these new Pause Application changes and have noticed a very marked difference with the same observations:
- the search results are way out eg. 50 miles out of London down on the South Coast, for a London search
- when searching for a specific location eg. Brixton, these aren’t showing any more
- hardly a chance of getting in at applications before they’re closed
- not being able to see full details of ‘reviewing applications’
I used to marvel at wonderfulness of TH and ease of making applications. It all used to flow so beautifully.
I’ve written a msg to TH and really hope they are going to reconsider these awful new changes!
I’d imagine it would be difficult for an overseas person to know which areas are or aren’t in London proper(for example) and it be more cumbersome and time-consuming for them to have to look up locations to check.
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@Mina123
5 is a low number considering how many sitters are on the site. I like to read the entire listing before I apply. I like to check my calendar. I like to see what flights are available or if I can drive. I like to check to see if I can use public transportation. I just do not have time to do all this before it’s too late. The 5 pause has greatly reduced the listings I can apply for.
Signed While I Was Sleeping
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After having used THS a number of times over the last 3-4 years and most recently last Christmas, I’ve just renewed and was then surprised to find a complete lack of London house sits. When I say London, I don’t mean results in Herts or deepest Surrey.
I sent a ticket to support asking why notified sits were immediately gone and the reply I received from Kimberley was: “Are they a popular sit that you have saved? Sometimes to do go very quickly. (sic)”
No mention of the new 5 application rule that I have since found that is really the likely cause.
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Yes I agree it is most likely the result of the five application pause process. It is incredibly frustrating to chose “City of London” from the dropdown menu and then be presented with sits in outlying counties often 1.5 - 2 hrs travel away from the city. Recently I get at most around 20 sits available in what I would term the city of London after focussing the map area to be within the M25 rather than the 400+ sits which are badged as London but in fact are all over the South East. It seems that THS do not wish to acknowledge that this is a consequence of the five application process.
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I have not read the whole of this thread so I’m unaware of the reasoning behind the application pause - Who is it meant to benefit?