What is live-in Housesitting?
In basic terms, live-in House Sitting involves a 'House Sitter'
temporarily living in and caring for a 'Home Owner's' normal place
of residence. Usually the Home Owner is going on an extended leave
(i.e., 30 days or more) from their home, due to a work commitment
or a holiday. Instead of leaving the house empty or signing up for
an inflexible lease to a tenant, the Home Owner can utilize the
services of a House Sitter to responsibly care for their home in
return for free rent.
In return the sitter agrees to keep the property secure, clean
and tidy, take care of any maintenance i.e. gardens, lawns and as
well as care for any pets as if they were the sitters own loved
ones. Often, the live-in housesitter does not pay rent for the accommodation,
but may pay for the things they use such as water and power, and
other utilities. In many cases the sitter agrees to pay for any
utilities used. In our case, we only pay for utilities for longer
housesits. However, this should only be used a guideline and the
actual terms must be negotiated between the sitter and the homeowner.
The housesitter has the responsbility to act with "pride of
ownership" while they are living on the premises. The Home
Owner can expect that the home will be cared for to standards they
describe to the House Sitters.
How long is a house sit?
A house sit can be a weekend, a week, a couple of weeks, a month,
6 months, a year or any other length of time. During the months
of June, July and August, when there is a lot of demand for shorter
housesits, we may accept a housesit of 2-3 weeks in Dartmouth,
Halifax, Lake Echo, Cole Harbour, Musquodoboit or the Eastern Passage
of Nova Scotia; however, we do not pay utilities for stays shorter
than 60 days and we do charge a fee for petsitting during housesits
of 60 days or less. Primarily, we seek only long-term (60+ days)
housesits.
We are currently seeking a long-term (over 60 days) housesit
beginning early May 2010 in Dartmouth, Halifax, Lake Echo, Cole
Harbour, Musquodoboit or the Eastern Passage of Nova Scotia.
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