House Sitter FAQ

General Questions About Being a House Sitter

What is expected of me as house sitter?

As a house sitter, you will be expected to perform agreed tasks that involve caring for a home owners property and pets. This includes taking care of all the usual daily tasks involved with running and maintaining a home such as house cleaning, garden maintenance, pool maintenance, general house security, forwarding or collecting mail, caring for pets and the occasional odd job. House sitters are expected to bring their own food and some may prefer to bring their own linen and cooking utensils. All this needs to be discussed prior to acceptance of the house sitting position.

Am I sure of getting a House sitting assignment?

We cannot give a 100% guarantee that you will get a house sit since it’s ultimately the home owners that choose the sitters and not us. However, you can increase your chances by making your profile attractive to home owners and by providing as much detail as possible.

How can I increase my chances of finding a house sit?

Write up your profile carefully!
When setting up your profile, make owners feel like they’d like to get to know you. Give details and describe who you are, your experiences (including pet care) what you do for a living e.g.
Make sure to upload nice clear photos that catch home owners attention.
If responding to a house sitting position, explain what you like about the home owner’s proposal and why you’d be the right person. Don’t hesitate to provide a link via your account settings page to some references document you uploaded to a third party such as eg.Dropbox, OneDrive, CloudMe. We only share the link with home owners you have contacted.

Request a FREE account verification
Requesting a free account verification will display a tick on your profile, and helps establish more trust between you and the home owner. To find out more about the free account verification, please scroll down this page to the section labelled “FREE ID Verification

Can I get paid for House sitting?

Usually house sitting positions are a “help stay” arrangement, where you take care of the home and pets in exchange for free accommodation. However, everything is negotiable with the home owner, so and it could be that a home owner may offer to pay you, however we do not have control over that.

Do I have to contribute to the utility costs (electricity, gas, etc)?

Usually home owners don’t expect payment of utilities for short term house sits. However, a home owner may ask you to contribute if you are on a long term assignment. All this needs to be discussed prior to acceptance of the house sitting position.
We have found that in most cases, for assignments lasting from a few days to over a few weeks, the home owner usually doesn’t expect payment for use of utilities. However some home owners may require that a small payment, especially if it’s a long term assignment. These things are negotiable between both parties.

Can I house sit with my pet?

Some home owners are happy to accommodate you and your pet. You can filter our search results to show home owners who are happy to accommodate sitters with pets.

Can I mind a home with my family?

Some home owners are happy to accommodate a family. You can filter the search results to show those who welcome families.

How long does it take before a House Sitter can contact Home Owners?

Registering on the site and taking up the House Sitter membership option is quick and easy. Once registered, if you paid by credit card, you are able to login to account and upload your ad immediately. Once your ad is uploaded, you may start contact home owners.

Do I need to be a Canadian citizen to join?

Not at all. Out site welcomes members from all over the world to join us. If you want to house sit in Canada, you’re in the right place!

Do I need references?

References are a major advantage and are therefore a must for all house sitters. Obviously the best type of reference would be from someone you have house sat for, however even a character reference/s from people that have known you for a reasonable amount of time are acceptable. These may include your landlord (if you have rented in the past), your employer, friends or people you know with an advanced standing in the community, such as a sports coach or principle. Your reference/s can be written and or verbal, with the referrer agreeing that you can provide their phone number to home owners.

Do I need an agreement and where can I find one?

Many home owners like to enter into an agreement with their house sitter for added security. We have made available a sample Agreement that you may like to use. You can view the sample agreement in the “House Sitting Agreement” tab on your dashboard.

Getting Started FAQ’s

How do I get started?

Get started is simple. Just head over to our membership page. You will then be directed to registration and the membership fee payment page. We use PayPal as the checkout method, so you can pay via card or directly through your PayPal account. We use PayPal’s secure online payment gateway. You don’t need to be registered with PayPal or need to be a PayPal member to be able to use your cards.
After that you can login to your account.
You will see a notice to activate your account once you have logged in. It’s important that you do this as this will activate your membership. Once that’s done you can go ahead and create your house sitter profile.

Time frame for uploading your house sitter ad.

We recommend you upload your house sitter ad right away. Until you upload your ad, you cannot contact home owners.

Do I need a criminal record check and where can I get one?

You do not need a criminal record check to join our site, however many home owners request a check.
To get a criminal record check please visit https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/criminal-record-checks
for more information.
The process may be different in other countries.

Account & Membership

Is the membership payment recurring or manual renewal?

We don’t do automictic renewals for memberships. If you want to renew that’s up to you. If you don’t that’s fine too.

Will I receive membership renewal reminders?

Yes, we send 2 email reminder notices before your membership expires; one at 14 days and one at 3 days.

What if I renew before the expiry of my current Membership?

The credit will be carried forward onto your new membership i.e., if you were to renew today and your 12 month membership expires in 14 days, you’ll get 12 months PLUS 14 days.

What happen if I don’t renew my Membership

You will have limited access to your Account.
Also note that when you do not renew your membership, we put your profile into a “Closed Down” mode. This means your profile will not be shown in our search results and home owners will not be able to contact you.

I didn’t get the link to activate my membership account

We automictically include the link in the email sent to you right after checkout.
Please make sure to check your spam folder. Otherwise you can request a resend of the account activation link via the Membership Confirmation page, which you were redirected to after successful payment.

Can I get a Refund?

In most cases, the answer is no.
Please check our Terms & Conditions for more information.

References

References and other relevant documents such as police clearances, more images e.g

At this stage, we do not allow the uploading of documents directly on our site. Instead, we allow House Sitters to provide us a shareable link to the references and other relevant information they may want to share with home owners such as criminal history checks, photos e.g.
The link cannot be viewed by the public. It can only be viewed by home owner members. This ensures that the privacy of the referees is protected and that you have control over who sees these documents, as well as other documents such as police clearances.
However, please do keep in mind that you should have permission from referees to share their reference.
The link to your documents is shown on your house sitter profile.
To provide us with a link to your documents, you first need to upload your references to a third party provide such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, CloudMe – all of these services are free.
Then copy the shareable folder link and paste it into the “Link to References/Documents” field on your profile listing.
Here we have put together a quick guide for you:

Dropbox
Login to Dropbox
Upload your files
Leave the folder and go to your folder overview
Hover over the folder you would like to share and click share icon
If a link hasn’t been created, click Create link
Copy the link
Navigate to your profile edit page.
In the “Link to References” field paste the URL you just copied.

Microsoft OneDrive
Login to OneDrive
Upload your files
Select the folder you want to share, and then select Share
Select Get a link
Click the ‘Copy link’ text
Navigate to your profile edit page.
In the “Link to References” field paste the URL you just copied.

CloudMe
Login to CloudMe
Upload your files
Click on the folder you want to share
Click the ‘Share’ button
Click the ‘Copy link’ button
Navigate to your profile edit page.
In the “Link to References” field paste the URL you just copied.

Google Drive
Login to Google Drive
Upload your files
Click the folder you want to share.
Click Share .
Click on the ‘Get Shareable link’ button (it should turn green)
Click the grey ‘Copy link’ button
Navigate to your profile edit page.
In the “Link to References” field paste the URL you just copied.

ID Verification

ID Verification for House Sitters

Offering free verification checks for house sitters helps us build more trust amongst our home owner members. Verification gives the home owner extra peace of mind when searching our site for a suitable house sitter.
Go to the verification page for more information.
If approved, a ID Verified Badge will be shown on your house sitter profile page.

ID verification for Home Owners

We offer free ID checks for our home owner members.
The Photo ID document you provides us is examined by a website moderator (not a third party provider).
If approved, a ID Verified Badge will be shown on the home owners listings and author page.

Messaging System

How can I contact Home Owners?

After registering, paying the membership fee, activating your account, and publishing your house sitter profile, you will see a button to apply for the house sit on the house sitting position you are viewing at the time. You can access your message box via your dashboard, or by going directly to the Messages page.

Confirmation/Booking System

How does the booking/confirmation system work?

A Home Owner can send you an invitation to confirm the House Sit by clicking the “Request Confirmation” button in the conversation between you and the Home Owner. At the time, the home owner will also need to select the dates they need you. Our system will check if you are available for these dates.
Once submitted, we will send you an email and you may take action below by either accepting or declining the invitation via your My House Sits page. Please note that whilst the request is pending, the dates will be updated in your calendar and marked as pending. If you approve the request, the dates will be marked as booked in your calendar, meaning no other home owner can send you a request for these dates.
Confirming a House Sit enables both the Home Owner and House Sitter to leave each other a review after the House Sit has been completed.

I need to cancel a House Sit

Please discuss with the Home Owner and make arrangements with them. You can cancel a confirmed house sit at anytime, and so can the home owner.

Managing your Calendar

Any confirmed bookings are automatically blocked out on your calendar. Bookings that are pending and also blocked out. If you decline or cancel a booking, the dates are made available again. To mark dates as unavailable, please edit your house sitter listing and go to the calendar tab. From there you can manually block out dates.

Reviews & Ratings

Can I receive a positive review/feedback from a home owner?

Yes. Home owners can leave house sitters a review as long the house sitter has accepted the House Sit and the end date has passed. A review button will be shown on the confirmed house sit. The home owner can give you an overall star rating and write a review. Once a review is submitted, it is instantly published to your house sitter listing. We will send you an email once published.

Can I review the home owner?

Yes. You can leave the home owner a review as long the House Sit was confirmed and the end date has passed. A review button will be shown on the confirmed house sit. You can give the home owner an overall star rating and write a review. Once a review is submitted, it is published live so please do have some consideration as to the review and rating you give.

How are complaints or Negative Feedback Handled?

We don’t allow sitters or homeowners to post public critical & uncomplimentary remarks about each other.
On rare occasions there are very unreasonable homeowners and house sitters who don’t fulfil their side of the agreement.
If you are in an unfortunate situation where you find yourself in such a dilemma, we ask that you send you complaint to use directly along with true, clear factual and unemotional evidence and in dot point form. Please include the username of the other member!.
We will listen to both sides of the story and will take appropriate action from there. In any extreme cases or where we are aware that there have been multiple complains against a single member, we will ban that member from our site.
We recommend both sides sign the a House sitting Agreement, to avoid any misunderstandings. You may find our sample Housesitting Agreement via the your main dashboard page.

Daily Email Alerts

How do the daily email alerts work?

You can subscribe to receive email alerts of new/updated house sitting positions in provinces/territories of your choice.
To get started, simply tick the locations of interest on the daily email alerts page.
To unsubscribe from provinces/territories simply tick the checkbox next to the location and then click the remove button.
Note that for each region, we will send a separate email. If you would like to be notified about house sits in ALL CANADA, simply check the “All Canada” checkbox. We will then just send one email with all the new house sits.

When are the emails alerts sent?

They are sent at 4.00am on each day of the week.

Why am I seeing the same house sits in my email alerts?

If you are seeing the same house sit in your email alerts, it means the house sit has been updated with new details such as different dates.

Other Questions

How will I know if a job posting has been filled?

When a home owner posts a job, it’s up to the home owner to manage that job posting and applicants. Once they find someone, they can either close their job posting to any new applications or delete their listing entirely.
Positions that are closed to new applications will show a “Closed” badge in search results and will also show a note on the actual listing page.
Please note that House Sit Canada is simply an online meeting platform where home owners can post a job and house sitters can apply for that job. We don’t know the home owners on the site or get directly involved in their hiring practice, so we have no way of knowing whether or not they have filled a particular position. We understand this can be frustrating at times, and we’re working on ways to create a better job search in the future!

I’m a sitter. Can I be a home owner too?

Yes, but you’ll need to do this with a new account, including a different username and different email address. Once you’ve logged out of your house sitter account, you can head over to the home owner registration page to get started. We advise you to read the getting started guide and the FAQ’s.

Can I delete my account?

You can request to have your account deleted via our contact form in the “Help” tab on your Dashboard.
Please note that when deleting an account, all your information will be deleted and is non retrievable. This includes your profile, reviews, calendar dates, shortlists etc.
Please read our Terms and Conditions for information about our refund policy.
Deleting of an account has no grounds for a refund!

I had a negative experience with a home owner

We take all complaints seriously and members are required to take their agreed responsibilities seriously. We recommend both home owner and house sitter sign a House sitting Agreement (see our sample house sitting agreement via your Dashboard). This way everything is clear from the beginning and misunderstandings are avoided.
In the rare and unfortunate case of a negative experience, please lodge a complaint with us directly. This can be done the Contact Form.
We ask that complaints be sent to us that are factual and unemotional. We hear both sides and take appropriate action from there – including banning a home owner or house sitter from the site.
We reserve the right to ban members from our site, should we feel it is in the best interests of our other members.
For any serious complaints, we advise you to contact police or a relevant authorities, in addition to notifying us.
Serious complaints include, but are not limited to the following:
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Mental Abuse
Theft of Property
Mistreatment & Abuse of Animals
Misuse of Property

I’m not receiving any emails

Please make sure you whitelist our email addresses:
– info@housesitcanada.com
– admin@housesitcanada.com
Please also make sure to check all folders such as spam, junk, promotion or social folders

What time zone does the website operate on?

The website operates on the timezone of Vancouver, BC.

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