Keeping track of a sit can get messy. Welcome guides can run long, and the one thing that matters gets lost. It’s easy to take a few arrival photos and leave it at that. Important details arrive as WhatsApp messages at odd hours. When something goes wrong, both parties dig through scattered texts trying to prove what was agreed.
There’s a better way. Proper documentation isn’t about building a file in case you need to sue someone. It’s about creating a shared record — one both parties can see — so that you’re looking at the same reality. When you agree on what the house looked like on arrival, “you left it in a state” is much harder to argue.
What actually needs documenting
Not everything. Documentation should be focused and purposeful — the areas where disputes actually happen, not a forensic catalogue of every shelf.
Arrival condition
Photographs of every room, focused on surfaces, floors, walls, and any existing damage. Don’t stage it. Don’t tidy up first. The point is to capture reality. Kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoor areas matter most — that’s where condition disagreements tend to start. Include timestamps. Phone cameras add these automatically — don’t strip them.
Departure condition
The same rooms, the same angles. Departure photos are your proof of how you left things. If the homeowner claims damage after you’ve gone, your departure photos are strong evidence. Take them immediately before you leave — not the night before.
Pre-existing issues
The stain on the carpet that was already there. The cracked tile in the bathroom. The garden tap that doesn’t work. Photograph these separately and note them. If you don’t, any pre-existing damage can end up looking like yours.
Pet condition
A quick video of each pet on arrival — their behaviour, any visible health issues, how they move. If a homeowner later claims their dog was injured during the sit, your arrival video shows the dog’s baseline state. This is one of the simplest ways for a sitter to protect themselves.
Incidents as they happen
Something breaks? Photograph it immediately. The dog vomits? Note the time and what happened. A pipe leaks? Photo, timestamp, and a message to the homeowner. Contemporaneous evidence — records made at the time, not reconstructed later — carries far more weight in any dispute.
If what you were told about an animal turns out to be wrong, it helps to have it written down. A listing can be edited after the fact. A signed agreement can’t.
Why shared documentation prevents disputes
The most important word in documentation isn’t “evidence.” It’s “shared.”
When only the sitter takes arrival photos, the homeowner can dispute them: “Those were taken from a misleading angle” or “You staged that.” When you both agree, before the sit, to photograph the home at handover, it becomes a shared record. Because you both agreed to the process in advance, neither of you can easily dismiss what it shows.
This changes the psychology of the entire arrangement. When both parties know the property is being documented, there’s an unspoken accountability. The homeowner can’t quietly hope a pre-existing stain goes unnoticed. The sitter can’t quietly hope a scratch gets overlooked. Knowing there’s a record makes it easier for both of you to be straight from day one.
Were those instructions in writing? Were they part of a signed agreement? Or were they mentioned once on a video call and forgotten? Documentation isn’t just photos. It’s every agreed term, captured in a form that can’t be rewritten after the fact.
From scattered texts to a signed record
On Reputable Sitters, the last morning is one of the eight questions, so how the home is left is agreed before anyone arrives. Photos at arrival and departure are worth agreeing too; write that down between you. Once it’s signed, the agreement can’t be changed by either of you, or by us.
And if something does go wrong, your photos and notes sit beside the signed agreement as the record of what happened. We don’t decide who’s right; if you can’t settle it between you and it goes further, evidence made at the time carries weight.
But the deeper value is simpler than that. The act of agreeing to document — both of you, together, before the sit starts — is an act of mutual respect. It says: “I trust you, and I’m willing to be held to the same standard.” That’s not adversarial. That’s the foundation of an arrangement where neither party needs to worry.