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The Ultimate Housesitting Safety Guide
To the uninitiated, ‘housesitting’ is a world of unknown protocols and new people. Whether you are a homeowner or a housesitter, this ultimate housesitting safety guide will help you get confident on how to begin your wonderful new adventure in housesitting and affordable travel with safety precautions in place.
For the person who has enjoyed housesitting for a while and understands the best practice protocols this guide serves a different role. It enables you to take advantage of affordable travel and shows you how easy it is to collaborate for mutual benefit. And so for the experienced housesit aficionado this safety guide for housesitting will be a timely reminder of what best practice looks like today according to our ethos at HousesitMatch.com.
A Personal Perspective on our Housesitting Safety Guide
When I began Housesit Match over a decade ago now, I always said I wanted us to be not the biggest housesitting platform in the world, but rather the safest housesitting platform. My whole approach was based on how I would feel letting a stranger into my home, or how I would feel going into someone else’s unknown property with unfamiliar pets.
Making it personal makes a big difference in the approach to any business. Good customers come back time and time again because they know that you understand their concerns and have worked to optimise the experience for all. This is we share our housesitting safety guide and why we spend extra funds on customer identification and verification before a person is even allowed onto the site to communicate with other members. We need to know who you are, then we can engage and let you engage—and this keeps our housesitting community safe.
Ready to experience the safest community in housesitting?
To this end we offer you our housesitting safety guide curated over a decade’s worth of personal and professional experience.
The Ultimate Housesitting Safety Guide
Photo credit – Jenny Kaye
Homeowners – Housesitting Safety Guide
- ID Verification: Yes, this is important, even for homeowners. Everyone who joins our platform goes through an identity verification service, this is automatically processed during our payment process — beware of free housesitting websites with no checking built in! Then we ask you to collaborate with us and go through one more step of identification. Once you finish this second step, we know you are of a collaborative nature, and your ID verified badge displays on your account.
- Housesitting Best Practice: Work with a reputable housesitting platform to stay up to date with customary and legal housesitting best practice protocols wherever you are in the world. HouseSit Match is rated 4.9/5 on Trustpilot by hundreds of members. Our systems are fully integrated and connected to secure global players that enable us to operate securely worldwide.
- Housesitting Communications: Use our informative materials (e.g., our Easy Sit Guide, Housesitting Agreement) and guidelines and briefing documents to optimise your communications with housesitters.
- Decide which channel you prefer to communicate in – email, SMS, WhatsApp. (NOTE: My personal preference is for WhatsApp – it is free, instant, and encrypted.)
- Agree on the frequency of communications while you are away – is it a daily update you need from your housesitter, or is weekly fine unless there is a problem? (NOTE: As a homeowner, I always ask for an occasional update every 2-3 days from sitters, just to be sure all is well.)
- Stay Up to Date: Read our Housesit Match blogs, many written by our housesitters, to keep up with current trends in home and pet care, and practical ideas in affordable and green travel.
- Pet Care and Introductions: Most pets take a while to get familiar with newcomers to the house. Some dogs need a little longer. To that end, we recommend that housesitters arrive a day earlier so that the sitter and pet can become more familiar. Ideally, you will take the sitter and dog on a routine walk together so that they can meet and greet. It is safer for the sitter and reduces pet anxiety. Sometimes video meetings are the only valid way to meet before the sitter arrives for their introduction. Housesit Match offers an online video facility to enable homeowners and housesitters to meet online and interview each other before committing to a sit. Homeowners can also use this time to show their pets and take the sitter virtually around their home in preparation.
- Pet Behavioral & Health Issues: If your pet has any behavioural issues, be open about this with the sitter. If they are still happy to petsit, agree to a handover a day before you leave so that you can create a safe and comfortable space for introductions. Please note – not all pets are suitable for housesitting assignments. Ensure all human and pet medications, as well as toxic foods (like chocolate or raisins), are locked away safely.
- Security Protocols: These are of paramount importance to both sitters and owners.
- Security Cameras: Decide where you stand on hot topics like security cameras inside and outside of the house. (NOTE: At Housesit Match, we ask you to turn off internal cameras when housesitters are resident. When I am housesitting for others, I prefer that they respect my privacy indoors, just as I would do for them.)
- Alarm Systems: Prepare a brief on your security alarm system for housesitters—help them practice the turning on and off routines to ensure they understand. (NOTE: I always write down the details for our sitters. And we have great neighbours who also know how to use our burglar alarm, so the sitter has a back-up.)
- Lock Off-Limit Rooms: If you are sensitive about items in your home, lock them up in an off-limit area. Housesitters will understand. (NOTE: We have a few cupboards we lock.)
- Perimeter Walk: Walk around the property with the sitters. Make sure they know where the fences are, especially if you have pets that can breach those fences. (NOTE: Our property has some peculiarities that become obvious in poor weather. I walk around the house and garden to show housesitters, just so they know what is normal—for example, that the drainpipes pouring water in heavy rain is perfectly normal.)
- Key Management (Physical Security): Do not leave spare keys hidden under obvious spots like doormats or flowerpots. If a key needs to be left for emergencies, using a secure, coded key lockbox or leaving it with a trusted neighbour is the best approach.
- Neighbours: Introduce the sitters to your neighbours. Your neighbour may be your spare keyholder, so they should certainly meet. Ensure there are contact telephone numbers available for both the sitter and the neighbour just in case of an issue while you are away.
- Discretion on Social Media: Do not post specific dates or real-time updates on specific locations on public social media accounts stating that the house is currently empty or occupied by a temporary sitter.
- What’s Normal for This House / Briefing Document: At Housesit Match, we offer a downloadable guide called the Easy Sit Guide, which is a briefing document of what is normal for your house. Use it to answer all the questions a housesitter will want to know (e.g., “The gardener comes every Tuesday at 10 AM,” or “The postie will knock if packages don’t fit the slot”). This prevents the sitter from feeling anxious about unexpected faces on the property.
- Strangers in the House: Most housesitters prefer not to have unknown people in the house (i.e., your lodgers, friends, or adult children). Be explicitly clear if anyone is planning to stop by so that there is clarity and full agreement with the sitters first.
💡 Homeowner Tip:
Don’t stress about remembering all these details in our housesitting safety guide! Once you have accepted your housesitter then we offer you this guide for free. Our exclusive, downloadable Easy Sit Guide does the heavy lifting for you, ensuring your housesitter has everything they need for a secure stay.
Photo credit – Mark Thelwall
Housesitters – Housesitting Safety Guide
- ID Verification: This is vital, especially for housesitters. Remember, if you are new to a platform, you are the unknown entity and have everything to prove. Everyone who joins our platform is automatically ID verified, but then we ask you to go through our secondary identification step. Once finished, your “ID Verified” badge displays on your account, instantly showing homeowners your collaborative nature.
- Verify the Platform and the Profile: Always communicate through the Housesit Match secure messaging system initially. Review the homeowner’s profile thoroughly, look at past sitter reviews if available, and don’t hesitate to ask for a video call before confirming.
- Property & Pet Familiarisation: * Personal Safety and “Arrival” Protocol: Aim to arrive during daylight hours if possible, especially for rural or remote sits. It is much safer to learn the layout of a property, find external fuse boxes, and do the perimeter walk when visibility is high.
- Pet Familiarisation: Most pets are fine with newcomers, but some cats and dogs require an adjustment period. For your own safety, ask comprehensive questions about the pet’s temperament, routine, and medical needs before accepting the assignment.
- Establish Clear Boundaries & Expectations: Safety is as much about psychological comfort as it is about physical security.
- The Camera Protocol: As per Housesit Match guidelines, ensure the homeowner confirms internal security cameras will be switched off during your stay.
- Off-Limit Areas: Clarify if any rooms, cupboards, or outbuildings are strictly private.
- Emergency Preparedness & Financial Clarity: Before the owners walk out the door, ensure you have a written list of emergency contacts:
- The homeowner’s primary and backup contact numbers.
- Local emergency services (crucial if you are housesitting abroad).
- The local vet’s details, written medical authorization from the owner, and clear agreement on how emergency vet bills will be paid (e.g., a card left on file at the clinic).
- Trusted local tradespeople (e.g., a plumber or electrician) in case of a utility emergency.
- Locks, Alarms, and Utilities: Take a physical walkthrough with the owner. Practice operating the locks, gates, and alarm systems yourself while they are there. Some doors have “quirks” that are easier to show than explain!
- Pet Routines & Public Safety: Understand the pet’s triggers (e.g., fear of thunder, food guarding, or reactivity toward other dogs on walks) to keep both the pet and yourself safe while out in public.
- Daily Security Routines: Treat the home with the same (or greater) security vigilance as your own. Always lock doors and windows when leaving the property, even for a short walk, and ensure gates are securely latched to prevent pet escapes.
- Fire & Environmental Safety Awareness: Locate the fire extinguishers, fire blankets, and smoke alarms during your walkthrough. If the property uses gas, a wood-burning stove, or requires specific protocols for extreme weather (like protecting pipes from freezing), ensure you fully understand how to operate them safely.
- Leaking Pipes and Flooding: Ensure the homeowner has left you a plumber’s telephone number and showed you where the main water stopcock is located, in the unlikely event there is a leaking pipe or flooding while you are in residence.
- Digital and Wi-Fi Safety: When working remotely or logging into bank accounts from a new housesit, ensure you are using the homeowner’s secure, password-protected Wi-Fi rather than open, public networks nearby.
🔐 Housesitters Tip:
One of the ways to optimise your chances of being chosen as the housesitter, is to ensure your profile looks the best it possibly can. Want to stand out to homeowners instantly? Completing your secondary ID verification gives you the coveted “ID Verified” badge, proving you take safety as seriously as they do.
Shared Best Practices for Peace of Mind
At Housesit Match, we believe that the safest housesits are built on a foundation of mutual respect and clear documentation. To ensure absolute clarity, we highly recommend that both parties utilise our Housesitting Agreement and follow our housesitting safety guide to ensure maximum clarity of purpose and safe execution of the assignment. This document isn’t about rigid legalities; it’s a practical framework a guide to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding home care, pet care, and emergency protocols.
Photo courtesy of Lamia and David Walker
Final Thoughts on This Housesitting Safety Guide
By taking these proactive steps, adopting these tried and tested safety protocols from our housesitting safety guide, homeowners can relax knowing their property and beloved pets are in safe hands, and housesitters can enjoy their new surroundings with total confidence.
Backed by our dedicated support and robust verification systems, your next housesitting journey is built on safety from day one.
Happy and safe housesitting, everyone!
BIO
Lamia Walker – Founder of HouseSit Match
F.A.Q.s – Housesitting Safety Guide
For Housesitters: Your first step should always be to seek medical care for the pet using the vet details provided in the handover. Housesit Match recommends that homeowners leave written authorization and a payment method (such as a card on file) with their vet in advance. Once the pet is safe, contact the homeowner or their backup emergency contact immediately to provide an update. NOTE – If you or the homeowner have either a CHOICE or PREMIUM membership you have access to a Vet 24/7 Helpline number.
At Housesit Match, our policy is that all internal cameras must be turned off while a housesitter is in residence to respect their right to privacy. External security cameras (like Ring doorbells or perimeter CCTV) are perfectly acceptable, but homeowners must disclose their locations to the sitter before the assignment begins.
Housesit Match requires a mandatory background security check and ID verification processed through our secure payment processor for every single member. This is unlike the loose unmonitored process of finding sitters casually through free websites or through social media. For absolute peace of mind, look for members who have completed our secondary verification step to earn their “ID Verified” badge on their profile.
Every safe housesit relies on a clear backup plan. Homeowners should fill out our downloadable Easy Sit Guide and brief the housesitter on the details before leaving. In this briefing document you will offer practical details such as the location of the main water stopcock, fuse box, and the contact numbers for trusted local tradespeople (like a plumber or electrician).
Ideally the housesitter will arrive at least 24 hours before you leave in order to go through an entire 24 hour period with the pets in the home, for a meet and greet and to practice the daily routines. This will include careful instruction on how to give the pet any medications required. These routines and medications should also be documented to ensure the housesitter has appropriate instructions to follow in the owner’s absence.
Yes, absolutely. At Housesit Match, the Housesitting Agreement is signed when you accept the terms (dates, location, responsibility of pet care) of the assignment, before the sit actually starts. This is not a rigid legal document, but rather a practical safety framework that ensures both parties are completely aligned on the commitment at point of agreement. The house rules, pet care, emergency protocols, and expectations are then completed in each Easy Sit Guide the homeowner completes and reviews with the sitters before the assignment begins.
Further Reading & Useful Resources
If after digesting our housesitting safety guide, you want to dive deeper into planning a seamless, secure housesitting experience, explore our curated selection of guides and expert articles:
For Homeowners
- How to Prepare Your Home for a Housesitter – A step-by-step guide to prepping your property so you can walk out the door with total peace of mind; especially useful for long term housesitters.
- Vet Matthew Bayliss’s Advice on Preparing for the Pet Housesitter – Practical tips from a professional vet on keeping your dogs and cats calm and secure when meeting new sitters.
- The Homeowner’s Checklist for Vacation Security – Beyond finding housesitters (your first port of call), learn best practices for keeping your property locked down and secure while while you’re away.
For Housesitters
- Top 10 Housesitting Best Practices for Housesitters – Essential protocols and tips for navigating housesits at home and international sits, caring for the property you are in and the pets.
- How to Create a Standout Trustworthy Housesitter Profile – Learn how to leverage your references, background checks, and reviews to land your dream housesit with a strong trustworthy sitter profile.
- Housesitters Home Safety Checks on Assignment – A practical guide on what to do for safety checks on the property just in the power fails, a pipe leaks, or a storm hits during a sit.
