When we started doing sits years ago, it was a rarity to see a listing with no pets.
It isn’t common now, but there are increasingly more HO listing a no-pet sit.
I’ve been asked why that is?
Most commonly it’s security for the home which may mean having someone in the home do deter thefts or to be on hand if something goes wrong with plumbing, electricity, or in a natural disaster. Sometimes they have plants that aren’t on a watering system.
We have been able to prevent disasters when a massive wild fire was encroaching on a propery, twice when plumbing malfunctioned causing flooding (both external causes), a storm that took out electricity for days, requiring manual use of a generator to prevent pipes bursting. I’m sure others have similar stories.
But increasingly I hear the reason is: squatters.
Whether a home is in the USA, Canada, UK, EU, etc squatters using a home to host an illegal part or literally moving in, has increased noticeably in the last five years.
What many home owners don’t realize is that beyond the damage and sense of violation a squatter may cause, if a person breaks into your home and suffers an injury that person can sue for damages.
We did a sit where a couple told us squatters had occupied their home and drunk their wine celler dry hosting parties. Another where a squatter “rented” their bedrooms out to others.
Today I read a story in the French publication Figaro that in Toulouse, France there is a case in the courts of a “pool squatter” (someone who illegally enters a property to use the pool) who is suing a property management company because he had an accident that left him paralyzed.
In short, while pets are a huge part of the reason people use THS to find sitters, even when there is no pet, a sitter provides great peace of mind.
Well. Everywhere in Europe squatters are easily removed - except for one country where you have to call the police on them within 36 hours. Which is this one. Squatting is a problem in Spain. So is housing. I suppose a lot goes hand in hand here. Most properties squatted are holiday homes, of course, because of the lack of presence. You get a nasty surprise once you show up, and you
- can not get them out
- can not sue them
- can not stop paying utility bills
So - I understand fully that people want others in their homes to secure the property basically.
I do NOT want this on THS though. This will attract a sitter crowd that is not at all interested in pets, and if they get a sitting with pets, they might neglect them badly.
I suppose this is a US thing? My feeling is that in most European countries that person would be laughed out of court.
The name of this organization is Trusted House Sitters not Trusted Pet Sitters.
Of course MOST of the listings are for people with pets. BUT THS has an option in their system to search out sits that have no pets.
I don’t know why you should care if a home owner wants their home cared for even if they have no pets? And there are sitters of all kinds to match all kinds of sits.
Not sure why you would want to exclude a HO who may sometimes leave a pet in the home and sometimes take the pet with them, but still want a sitter
I’m sorry to tell you that your statement about squatters is not correct.
For example, in France it is illegal to evict someone during the winter (I think that includes from Dec 1 - March 31).
From personal experience as a home owner in British Columbia & California I can tell you it general takes 2-5 months to get someone out of a home.
Neither was a vacation home in those places.
Spain is not unique by a long shot.
elmi4711 - The article I site in the post was from le Figaro about a case in Toulouse, France. It happens increasingly not just in the USA but all over Canada and the EU.
BTW my grandmother’s favorite cologne was 4711!
@ASASG
Whilst I’m not gullible enough to believe everything I see on the Internet, it is referenced a lot on there that this French Winter Truce is for tenants, and does not apply to squatters.
So at best, its 50/50 right or wrong.
Hallt64 - I stand corrected about the winter evictions being law. What I have heard from friends who own homes in France (as primary residences) is that they are afraid to leave their homes unoccupied for any significant length in Winter because the authorities are reluctant to evict people in winter.
We know a couple who have a house in St Emillion & an apartment in Nice. They stay in Nice over the winter but take big precautions to lock up their house while away out of fear of squatters.
Regarding the matter of injuries to squatters, that is part of French law as cited by Le Figaro.
I suppose the problem in Spain is exacerbated by the fact there is so much squatting going on. It’s not something exotic (never heard of squatting anywhere else I lived, and here it’s everyday life), and squatters actually move in for years or even decades while somebody else keeps paying the bills.
And yeah, it is difficult in all countries to evict tenants - and for good reason. The squatting problem (as in impossible to evict and use your own home) I’ve only experienced - or even heard of! - here.
elmi4711 unfortunately it seems squatting is becoming more & more common in France, Canada, USA (the countries I’m most familiar with).
In none of these countries - fortunately for y’all - I see legislation that actually supports squatting. Here, for various (historic) reasons…
And if you think “more common” means “one house per town”, should you move here, you need to re-think. The community I joined first time here, consisting of 120 (mostly very little, many vacation) houses, had an easy 15 squatted long-term.
In the European country that I live in, squatting someone’s home is illegal, and you can call the police and demand that they get evicted. The squatter can also get a jail sentence.
If the squatter injures themselves in the process of occupying the home and tries to sue, I’m pretty sure they’d stand zero chance at the courts in this country
It is complicated. In Europe, there is the treaty about respect for family life which in many places made it difficult to evict.
A month ago I read an article in a Dutch newspaper that squatting is on the rise again. It was down for a while after new legislation had been introduced. But rents and house prices are unaffordable for many young people, and there is also a lot of unused real estate. Also, there is an increase in anti-squatting agreements where people live there without renting and can be asked to leave at any moment.
I just heard that the university building where I once studied biology is now inhabited by squatters.
Tell me about it 
I’m 28 and probably not going to be a homeowner until I’m 86 
Nagy26: I felt that way at 32 and yet unforeseen changes in the economy, in housing, in my employment - at 33 I bought my first house. A simple 1250 SF 30 year old cottage but it felt like a miracle. Nothing is as certain as change.
TBH I think governments don’t have the nerve to take the steps required to change this.
For example, a luxury tax in places where housing is tight: just like there is a graduated scale in income tax, why not for square footage of a home? The idea that a single person can occupy a 500 SM home in a place where young families cannot find housing is nuts.
No one cares if you want to have a mansion on a hill on the outskirts of a town.
But there are too many homes that should be family homes which instead are owned by investors. Residential Real Estate should not be a commodity.
I think you’ be surprised. In Vancouver, BC, Canada a man rented a basement suite from a single elderly woman. After two months stopped paying rent. She tried for four months to evict him. In retaliation he turned off HER heating (the controls were in the basement suite) and changed all the locks to his suite so she couldn’t get in. BTW in British Columbia if a tenant stops paying rent the landlord cannot legally turn off essential services such as water, heating, electricity. Yet he did that to her. As of this year a landlord in BC must give a tenant four months notice to move out. Took this woman months before she finally had government help getting him out.
I believe that here in Sweden, my relatively prosperous municipality does not see any reason to make housing more affordable. It would only attract an inflow of inhabitants that are paying less in taxes, that are more likely to need financial assistance, more likely to have children that need extra help in school, etc etc.
And nobody is talking about that kind of incentives for policies.
ASASG, you talk about tenants. I talk about squatters. Let’s just agree that we’re talking about different situations, alright?
I completely agree with your observations regarding tenants, be they paying their rent or not. And, even though I’ve always been the one owning the property and renting it out, I believe in protection of the weak and I find it positive and necesary not to be able to evict somebody because I don’t like their face, or because they couldn’t pay the rent last month for whatever reason. It gets hairy when they try to rip you off and become effective squatters, but they are still tenants, and not squatters by definition.
Just to make clear what I actually am talking about: Squatters, as defined here (“okupas”) are people that illegally break and enter temporarily unoccupied homes and start living there. In Spain, if you have not sent the police within a certain, very short time (I have 36 hours in my head, could easily be three days though), you can not get them out, ever, AND you have to pay for utilities, indefinitely. If you stop, they can (and will) sue you for (a) the utility bills and (b) damages.
There’s a whole extortion business going on on that basis, too. Mafia style groups sending okupas and extorting multiple thousands of Euros from you to have them leave your property again. Theoretically, Spain has released a decree to curb all that two years ago, but it’s toothless.
So - I am not talking about tenants that stop to pay. They have a contract, which squatters have not.
We are sitters and are HO’s too. We don’t have pets. We open our garden to the public to raise funds for charity so have used sitters for watering duties. Probably less work than pet sitting but I would say it would average out at 2 hours a day.
No gardening involved just watering and in emergencies, like a storm some clearing up but we have someone who does the gardening bits. We don’t have any particular security worries, we have outside CCTV and live in an urban area so lots of neighbours. Good thing about our sits is you are not tied down during the day or after dark as watering is a first or last thing.
Had excellent sitters in the past.
I understand you are referring to squatters. The story in Le Figaro was specficially about squatters. Squatters are an issue across North America and the EU, and incresingly so in the last five years. I simply was using renters as an illustration of how difficult it is to get someone out in many countries.