How does house sitting work? Are there any fees involved either way?
House sitting can be a mutually beneficial and free exchange of goods (accommodation) for services (house and pet sitting). The house sitter agrees to occupy the home owner’s property for a given period of time. Generally the house sitter is required to be in the property most of the time (although, like everything, this may be negotiable), giving the property its usual occupied appearance to deter burglars, squatters and vandals. Often, there will be one or more animals to care for (these can be fish, rabbits, cats and dogs, hamsters, goats and horses!) House sitters may find themselves in a converted barn in Tuscany, a mews flat in London’s Notting Hill, a pick-your-own kiwifruit farm in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty in the off season or just –keeping an eye on things’ in a log cabin in an isolated forest park in Utah. While the home owner is away everything continues in the property as usual (that’s where the house sitter come in!). Bills need to be paid, plants need watering, gardens
