Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ

We have two service levels at HouseSitMatch:

1. STANDARD
2. PREMIUM

For a full explanation of the features of each of these packages please see about us. Or register here.

This is a popular FAQ.

Searching for a Housesit

Enter ‘keywords’ that will help you find a housesit with the attributes that interest you, and click Search e.g.:

Cats

Dogs

Beach

The search tool will select any housesits that display these keywords in the Profile Description.

In the ‘Locations’ window, enter any town, city or country you wish to search for and click on Search e.g.:

London

United Kingdom

Then, scroll through your search results.

Searching for a Housesitter

In the ‘Countries to Housesit’ window enter the country where you wish to find a Housesitter and click Search.

Or alternatively, you can find a housesitter by Username in the next window.

No, we are not a travel service. You need to make these arrangements yourself. This is a very popular FAQ.

If you have police clearance in advance from your home country this will save time. We have online verification and background checking for members once registered.

All our members are asked to go through our ID checking system called Hooyu.

This important step is free to registered paying members and builds trust in our website and database. You need to have two identity documents to hand e.g. Passport scan of photo id page, Photo driving licence Facebook logins, any other social media logins.
In addition, we ask housesitters to have an up to date Verifile background check, which can be managed through the My Profile > Verfication page.

There is a small charge for this process. When the background check is complete a verified and checked symbol appears next to the User profile. The symbol will appear like this

This is a very popular FAQ.

Yes you can, but not with the same registration profile. You have to register twice using different email addresses.

If you pay for Premium, then your profile is in the top results returned for the relevant search and the date of your last login. Standard registration also presents your profile in order of the most recent login date.

Experience is definitely useful but a willingness to be flexible and an affinity with animals certainly helps. Get Verified online so homeowners gain confidence that  you have been checked through us. All members have basic identity checks on registration free of charge! For a police check you need to website click the link for our partner ONFIDO when you are logged in.

No, there are opportunities for everyone.

Generally the homeowner pays for utilities certainly for shorter sits. But in the case of longer sits house-sitters may be asked to pay a contribution toward the utilities. This is all negotiable.

You register choosing your preferred service level and upload a profile. From there you can search property profiles to find one that suits you or wait until an owner contacts you, which is unlikely as they are generally bombarded with approaches. It is best to be proactive. Your chances of a match are increased if you choose the Premium subscription.

Not necessarily, as not all house-sits require you to look after pets. However, most of the house sitting assignments are for petsitting.  Register for the newsletter and stay close to what is available…

This is not ruled out that you can take your own pet to a petsitting assignment, but it is likely to impact on you being selected from a short list containing house-sitters without pets. We like it if our homeowners and house-sitters are as flexible as possible, so we suggest this is something you negotiate with the homeowner.

You can edit your profile as many times as you like. Login and look on the My Account page for the Settings Wheel which looks like this 

Click to reveal the Drop Down list that shows Edit Profile. Click and start to update your profile content. Please remember to save and submit.

Because this is a popular FAQ we make sure that as a new member you will receive a series of welcome emails with photo and video explanations  for how to edit your profile.

This is easily done on the My Account page.

Look at the bottom right hand side of your My Account page for the Bell symbol which appears like this

Click on the bell to reveal the Web Notifications link, and click on that to reveal your Notifications settings which will look something like this

You can opt in to as many of the notifications as you want.

TOP TIP

To start with it might be useful to have notifications sent to you for every event in order that you have the opportunity to respond in a timely fashion and build an understanding of how the system works. However, ultimately the choice is yours to fine tune as is most useful for your purposes.

This is to be agreed with the homeowner, but generally the answer is yes.

As long as you want to – you may never have to pay rent again! However, the length of time that you house-sit in one home will be limited and the contracts you arrange with the homeowner will be clear about those limitations. For example, in the UK we strongly advise owners and sitters to ensure the maximum stay does not exceed 11-months to comply with tenancy legislation. In Australia, any stay over 3 months is no longer considered a holiday and will require a different contract. We can guide you through the requirements and have prepared the relevant template documents for you in accordance with contemporary legislation in both countries.

As long as you want to – you may never have to pay rent again! However, the length of time that you house-sit in one home will be limited and the contracts you arrange with the homeowner will be clear about those limitations. For example, in the UK we strongly advise owners and sitters to ensure the maximum stay does not exceed 11-months to comply with tenancy legislation. In Australia, any stay over 3 months is no longer considered a holiday and will require a different contract. We can guide you through the requirements and have prepared the relevant template documents for you in accordance with contemporary legislation in both countries.

This is a popular FAQ.

Because we check the identity of all members on registration free of charge. Also we vet all housesitters, and we offer the widest range of options to assist you to find a house that suits your needs. And our Premium membership option gives you an edge with a larger profile, more photographs and a video link!

This is a popular FAQ, please check out our TRUSTPILOT reviews to see what other members say about HouseSitMatch.

The benefits of house-sitting are many fold, primarily you get free accommodation! Please have a look at the Housesitter and Petsitter Benefits page for more information.

This is popular FAQ

In the unfortunate case of this happening, call the owner and let them know. If they are not contactable use the designated emergency contact number, which is usually a relative and let them know what has happened.

Any spend is usually reimbursed. This is one of the things that needs to be specified in the house-sitting agreement.

This is a popular FAQ.

All our members are asked to go through our ID checking system called Hooyu.

This important step is free to registered paying members and builds trust in our website and database. You need to have two identity documents to hand e.g. Passport scan of photo id page, Photo driving licence Facebook logins, any other social media logins.

In addition, we ask housesitters to have an up to date Verifile background check, which can be managed through the My Profile > Verfication page.

There is a small charge for this process. When the background check is complete a verified and checked symbol appears next to the User profile. The symbol will appear like this

This is a popular FAQ

You don’t. If you have a Standard subscription you have to rely on your gut reaction when you meet a prospective house sitter and your pets reaction. As we do in everyday life, we often make decisions based on our better judgement so use that judgment here when deciding on a house-sitter.

To see what other people have said about HouseSitMatch look up our TRUSTPILOT reviews.

If you pay for Premium, then your profile is in the top results returned for the relevant search. If you have a StandardåÊregistration then your profile appears in order of relevance by country, state/region and availability.

Yes you can, but not with the same registration profile. You have to register twice using different email addresses. Please note: always make sure you log-out of one profile before logging in to use your other one.

Experience is always a good indicator as are good references. HouseSit Match suggests you meet with your sitters more than once before you go away and trust your gut feeling.

However, you should also check their profile for ID check, police and background checking and their own profile description. All these points of reference are useful information to help you formulate your first questions for the sitter as you get to know them.

On HouseSitMatch.com you can also check any previous references they have earned from homeowners. That’s always a useful reference point.

HouseSit Match offers a range of facilities to assist you to find a sitter that suits your needs, and our Premium membership option gives you an edge.

We are the only housesitting membership network to ID check everyone and insist on police and background checking for free housesitters.

This is a popular FAQ, we’d like you to check out our TRUSTPILOT reviews to see what other people say about our membership.