Insurance
Who carries which risk on a housesit, and what covers it
On a housesit, the agreement says who pays for what if something goes wrong. Insurance is how each of you meets your own share. Here’s the whole picture on one page.
Two weeks before a fortnight’s sit, the homeowner reads the agreement through one more time. The vet bills are hers, up to the figure she wrote. Careless damage is the sitter’s.
If he doesn’t turn up, he pays for the kennel she finds instead.
Then she wonders: if the vet bill is £900, whose insurance is that? And if he breaks the oven door, does he even have insurance? He’s asking himself the same thing from the other side.
Why it goes wrong
People mix up two different questions. Who owes what? is the agreement’s. Where does the money come from? is insurance’s.
The agreement can say the sitter pays for careless damage; it can’t make his insurer pay for it. Each of you looks to your own cover for your own share.
Who carries which risk, and what usually covers it
“Under the agreement” is what the agreement on Reputable Sitters says. If you use another agreement, or none, check what yours says.
Liability cover, below, means insurance that pays if you’re held responsible for harm to someone else or their things.
An animal needs the vet
Under the agreement: The homeowner pays the vet bills, up to their vet figure (the most the sitter can agree at the vet without the homeowner’s yes).
If the vet asks the sitter to pay, the homeowner pays them back within 48 hours of seeing the receipt.
That holds even if the homeowner thinks the sitter caused the harm; they can claim that back from the sitter afterwards. Above the figure, the homeowner pays for what they agree once they’re reached.
They also pay for what the vet does on the vet’s own authority to ease suffering or to put the animal to sleep.
Anything the sitter agrees above the figure without the homeowner’s yes is the sitter’s.
Cover that usually reaches it: The homeowner’s pet insurance, for illness or injury. Ask whether it pays when someone else brings the animal in.
If the homeowner claims from the sitter for harm the sitter caused, the sitter’s own liability cover, if they have any.
Something in the home is damaged
Under the agreement: Whoever causes it carelessly or on purpose pays. The sitter pays for their own damage. Each person staying with them pays for theirs.
The sitter also pays for damage done carelessly or on purpose by anyone they ask to do part of their job. Wear, breakdowns and genuine accidents are the homeowner’s.
Cover that usually reaches it: The homeowner’s home insurance, for their share. The sitter’s own liability cover, if they have any: ask whether it reaches someone else’s home.
The sitter doesn’t turn up, or walks out without a reason
Under the agreement: The sitter pays for comparable care the homeowner arranges instead, on receipts, up to the figure you both agreed before the sit.
That figure is the most either of you could owe the other for care or a place to stay, if plans change.
If the homeowner pays some of the sitter’s travel: when the sitter doesn’t turn up, none of it is owed, and the sitter pays back what’s been paid.
When the sitter walks out, the journey home and any changes aren’t owed, but anything already paid for them stays paid.
Cover that usually reaches it: Usually little. Travel insurance pays for a cancelled trip only in the circumstances the policy lists. Ask whether a sitter letting you down is one.
The homeowner’s trip falls through
Under the agreement: Each of you pays for your own trip.
If the homeowner then calls the sit off, they pay for somewhere comparable for the sitter to stay for the dates, up to the figure, unless it’s nobody’s fault (below).
They also pay their agreed part of the sitter’s travel already spent that can’t be got back.
Nothing is owed for the sit itself if it’s nobody’s fault. Then only costs already promised and already spent change hands. Nobody’s fault means:
- a death or serious illness in either of your close families, a pet included;
- your own illness or injury, if a doctor confirms it’s serious enough to stop you;
- something outside anyone’s control that stops the sit, such as a strike, a flood or a closed border;
- something outside anyone’s control that stops the homeowner’s own trip or plans before the sit, such as a strike, a closed border or official advice against travel.
And nothing is owed if you both agree in writing to call it off.
Cover that usually reaches it: The homeowner’s travel insurance, in the circumstances it lists.
The homeowner comes home early
Under the agreement: Unless the homeowner is ending the sit for one of the reasons the agreement lists, or you both agreed, the sitter chooses whether to stay or go.
If the sitter goes, the homeowner pays for somewhere comparable for them to stay for the nights cut short, up to the figure. They also pay their agreed part of changing the sitter’s journey home.
Cover that usually reaches it: The sitter’s travel insurance may cover cutting a trip short. Ask.
The sitter leaves because of something on the homeowner’s side
Under the agreement: The money works as when the homeowner comes home early, if the sitter leaves for one of these reasons:
- the home is unsafe or unlivable;
- a camera in a bedroom or bathroom;
- a recording device that wasn’t agreed, which the homeowner doesn’t switch off at once;
- an animal doing harm the homeowner didn’t mention;
- the homeowner comes in, or lets others stay, without agreement;
- the sit risks the homeowner’s tenancy or mortgage.
If the sitter leaves because of their own serious illness, confirmed by a doctor, it’s nobody’s fault, and nothing is owed for the sit itself.
Cover that usually reaches it: The sitter’s travel insurance may cover cutting a trip short. Ask.
The sitter is hurt or falls ill
Under the agreement: The agreement sets no sum. The ordinary law applies: the homeowner must take reasonable care that the sitter is reasonably safe in their home.
Harm from the homeowner’s animals has its own law too.
Cover that usually reaches it: The sitter’s own travel or health cover. The homeowner’s home insurance, for its liability part, if the homeowner is found legally responsible.
The sitter’s own things are lost or damaged
Under the agreement: Not covered by the agreement. The ordinary law still applies.
Cover that usually reaches it: The sitter’s own cover. Ask whether it reaches your things in someone else’s home.
What to do
If you’re the homeowner: read your home and pet policies before the sit, and tell your home insurer someone will be living in.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says home cover can be “restricted … when your home is empty for a long period, often 30 or 60 days”.
It also says that not telling your insurer about changes “could affect your cover”.
“Home insurance while a sitter lives in” and “Pet insurance while someone else is looking after your animal” have the questions to ask.
If you’re the sitter: check your own travel or health cover, and whether any liability cover you have reaches a home that isn’t yours. “Insurance for sitters” has the questions.
Both of you: where neither of your covers reaches, say so before you sign. “The gaps” lists the usual ones.
How to talk about it
“My pet insurance pays if you take the dog in; here’s the policy number” is worth saying. So is “I don’t have liability cover, so let’s agree how we’d handle a breakage.”
Neither is a confession. It’s what lets the other decide.
How it works on Reputable Sitters
The agreement says who pays for what, in plain words, and each of you sees the same page before signing. It doesn’t sell, arrange or check insurance.
The legal bit
This is information, not legal advice. The agreement binds the two of you; it can’t change what an insurer pays.
Only your policy’s wording and your insurer can tell you what you’re covered for, so get their answer in writing.
The agreement says who pays. Your insurance is how you pay it. Look at both before the sit, not after.
Where next
Tell us what we’ve got wrong: listening@reputablesitters.com
Information, not legal advice. Laws change, so check anything important with the official source linked on each page.
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Reputable Sitters Ltd, registered in England and Wales, no. 17032078. Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ.
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