House-sitting can be a great way of making money by doing very little and you could find yourself staying in luxurious houses and apartments. If you are able to secure a long term house-sitting contract, you might even manage to avoid paying rent and bills, and if you work from home, you could combine this with house-sitting.

• What’s involved?
• Working with a house and pet sitting agency
• Become a self-employed house sitter
• Could you be a home sitter?
• Money you could make from house sitting and pet sitting
• Additional costs

You might be surprised that anyone would hire a house sitter, but more and more people own more than one property or spend long periods of time away on business. When house owners hear horror stories about squatters, discover that burglary rates are highest during holiday periods, or realise that keeping a house occupied could lower their insurance premium, many decide to hire a house sitter.

House-sitting involves living in someone’s home whilst they are away. Your job is to keep things clean and tidy, maybe look after a pet, and by your presence, deter burglars.

What’s involved in house sitting?

Some agencies will also specialise in short-term sitting, where they provide people who will stay in your home all day waiting for the plumber or an elusive furniture delivery. House-minding is keeping an eye on an empty home with a regular, often daily, visit to water the plants and pick up the post and have a quick tidy.

For both house-sitting and house-minding you can mind the houses of family and friends, but for regular work register with an agency, like Homesitters and Mrs Hunt’s Staffing. If you are doing this independently, the owners should provide a written contract with instructions of what to do if specific situations arise so that you’re completely sure of the right action to take. Also, make sure you provide the home-owners with references from a previous landlord and employer.

Working with a house and pet sitting agency

It is best if you can present an agency with a police check and you will need references from professional people. The agency will interview you in your own home to make sure you are suitable for the job.

Some house and pet sitting agencies like Homesitters take on sitters as their employees and therefore they are responsible, not you. They will have insurance to protect you throughout the job and even your partner if they are joining you for the sit.

You won’t be expected to work all day; usually your duties will require a couple of hours and the rest of your time is yours. However, clearly the whole point of house-sitting is that you’re there to protect it, so usually an agency like Homesitters will expect you to leave the property for no longer that three hours at a time in the day and one hour at night.

Another benefit of using an agency is that you will be given support throughout the process. They will arrange a meeting between you and the client so that you know exactly what the client expects of you as a house-sitter and a checklist will be drawn up to ensure that both you and the client know exactly where you stand. You will be able to contact the agency at any point during the house-sit and they will help you if anything goes wrong.

You’ll probably find you get more work through an agency. Their clients will want to know that house-minders have been vetted thoroughly and matched to suit their particular needs so they will be more inclined to use an agency that does both these things.

A good agency will interview you thoroughly to determine your interests, skills and preferences. This will then help them to match you to appropriate clients so that the sit is more fun for you and beneficial to the client. For example, a client with a cat can be matched to a house-sitter who has had experience looking after cats and would enjoy it.

Generally, an agency will match you to a client that lives near your own home, usually within the same county. However there are exceptions, such as London home sitting agency Mrs Hunt’s Staffing, which places house-sitters all around the world.

If you want to travel, agencies may be able to help to you find a house-sit further away as long as you agree to pay towards the travel costs. You could always use the opportunity to visit family and friends in other locations.

A good house-sitting agency will give you health and safety training, personal safety training, animal welfare guidance and details of their own regulations and rules. The only experience you need is of running your own home. Clients just want to be sure that you can do all the domestic tasks and keep their home running smoothly.

Working as a self-employed home sitter and pet minder

If you are an entrepreneurial sort, you could become self-employed and advertise your home sitter services directly to potential clients. One lady we know of regularly makes £50 a day as a home sitter, and she only spends the evenings and over nights in the house, before going to work the next day.

The reason for this high rate of pay is the fact that the owner of the house has seven dogs. It would cost at least £10 per dog per day to put these dogs into kennels, so by paying £50 to a house-sitter who knows the dogs, the owner saves £20 a day. If the house is large, and if there are a lot of pets, pet minding services can charge up to £90 a day.

One potential drawback to being self-employed is the fact that you will have to take responsibility for many things that an agency would otherwise do for you.

For example, you will have to:

• advertise your services and find clients
• manage your time
• register as self-employed with HMRC and complete an annual tax return
• draw up contracts with your house-sitting clients
• and you will also have to consider sorting out your own public liability insurance

It is a good idea if the house owners let their insurance company know that someone else is house sitting their property while they are away. Most self-employed house-sitters also have public liability insurance. This type of insurance will cover you if something goes wrong and it is not the house owner’s responsibility to pay for it, for example if you lock yourself out of the house and have to pay for a locksmith.

For more information about managing your finances while self-employed, take a look at this article on the Moneymagpie website. For advice on creating a contract between you and a house owner, take a look at the Mindmyhouse website.

Could you be a home sitter?

House-sitting tends to be suited to people who have retired and are fit and active enough to maintain a house and look after pets. Short-term house-sitting can also be useful for students who are flexible and have time to look after other people’s places – maybe while studying.

As long as clients are confident that you are looking after their house properly you may be able to house-sit if you work from home, perhaps as an author. You have to be sure that you will be comfortable in someone else’s house, and away from your own home and social circle, because you are unlikely to be able to invite other people (apart from your partner if they have been agreed previously) to the client’s home. Many agencies will want someone available throughout the year so that if a client needs a house-minder more than once they can use the same person again and again.

What kind of house and pet sitting fees can you charge?

Don’t think of house-sitting as a way to make lots of money. The pay is minimal and the work is unlikely to be regular but it is a good way to earn a bit of money on the side and possibly have some fun whilst you’re at it.

• Long-term house-minders can earn between £9.50 and £10 a day, plus food and travel allowances.
• Small additional amounts are available if you care for a dog or cat while house sitting. Homesitters pays an extra 33p a day for dog care.
• Short-term house-sitters can earn between £8 and £10 an hour.

Additional Costs

If you work through an agency your costs will be minimal, including things like personal phone calls.The owners should provide everything necessary on a day-to-day basis, plus a float to cover anything you need as you go along (cat food etc.).

If you are house-sitting independently, an owner could initially request a deposit from you. It’s best to go over the house together on your arrival to write down any damage.You may also have to pay for the utilities you use when house-minding but make sure this is clearly stated in the checklist/contract before you house-sit.

Useful contacts

• Homesitters – 01296 630 730
• Mrs Hunt’s Staffing (within the M25 area only) -020 7824 8209
• Or put yourself on Jobsgrapevine as a house-sitter or house-minder