House Sitter FAQ – NZ House Sitters

As a house sitter, you will be expected to perform agreed tasks that involve caring for a home owners property and pets. This includes taking care of all the usual daily tasks involved with running and maintaining a home such as house cleaning, garden maintenance, pool maintenance, general house security, forwarding or collecting mail, caring for pets and the occasional odd job. House sitters are expected to bring their own food and some may prefer to bring their own linen and cooking utensils. All this needs to be discussed prior to acceptance of the house sitting position.

We cannot give a 100% guarantee that you will get a house sit since it’s ultimately the home owners that choose the sitters and not us. However, you can increase your chances by making your profile attractive to home owners and by providing as much detail as possible.

Write up your profile carefully!
When setting up your profile, make owners feel like they’d like to get to know you. Give details and describe who you are, your experiences (including pet care) what you do for a living e.g.
Make sure to upload nice clear photos that catch home owners attention.
If responding to a house sitting position, explain what you like about the home owner’s proposal and why you’d be the right person. Don’t hesitate to provide some references documents, which you can upload to your profile via the Media/Uploads tab when editing your profile. We only show these uploads to home owners you have contacted/messaged.

Request a FREE account verification
Requesting a free account verification will display a tick on your profile, and helps establish more trust between you and the home owner. To find out more about the free account verification, please scroll down this page to the section labelled “FREE ID Verification”.

Usually house sitting positions are a “help stay” arrangement, where you take care of the home and pets in exchange for free accommodation. However, everything is negotiable with the home owner. It could be that a home owner may offer to pay you, however we do not have control over that. Most home owners who list on our site assume it’s a “help stay” arrangement. Therefore, if you charge for the service, please make it obvious in your profile description.

Usually home owners don’t expect payment of utilities for short term house sits. However, a home owner may ask you to contribute if you are on a long term assignment. All this needs to be discussed prior to acceptance of the house sitting position.
We have found that in most cases, for assignments lasting from a few days to over a few weeks, the home owner usually doesn’t expect payment for use of utilities. However some home owners may require a small payment, especially if it’s a long term assignment. These things are negotiable between both parties and should be discussed before the acceptance of the assignment.

Some home owners are happy to accommodate you and your pet. You can filter our search results to show home owners who are happy to accommodate sitters with pets.

Some home owners are happy to accommodate a family. You can filter the search results to show those who welcome families.

Registering on the site and taking up the House Sitter membership option is quick and easy. Once registered, if you paid by credit card, you are able to login to account and upload your ad immediately. Once your ad is uploaded, you may start contacting home owners.

Not at all. Out site welcomes members from all over the world to join us. If you want to house sit in New Zealand, you’re in the right place!

References are a major advantage and are therefore a must for all house sitters. Obviously the best type of reference would be from someone you have house sat for, however even a character reference/s from people that have known you for a reasonable amount of time are acceptable. These may include your landlord (if you have rented in the past), your employer, friends or people you know with an advanced standing in the community. Your reference/s can be written and or verbal, with the referrer agreeing that you can provide their phone number to home owners.

Many home owners like to enter into an agreement with their house sitter for added security. We have made available a sample Agreement that you may like to use. You can view the sample on your dashboard.

We advise not to buy tickets for your transportation until a firm agreement has been reached.

We don’t vet or check any of our members, and this includes home owner members. Home owners can elect to have their ID verified, however this is not a requirement. If you have any concerns about a home owner or a listing, please contact us.

Getting started is simple. Just head over to our membership page. You will then be directed to registration and the membership fee payment page. We use PayPal as the checkout method, so you can pay via card or directly through your PayPal account. We use PayPal’s secure online payment gateway. You don’t need to be registered with PayPal or need to be a PayPal member to be able to pay.
If payment goes through, your membership is a success and you’ll be taken to a membership confirmation page. On this page, you’ll find a summary of your membership account, as well as a link to create your house sitter profile listing. Remember, without a profile listing you cannot apply for any house sits.

We recommend you upload your house sitter ad right away. Until you upload your ad, you cannot contact home owners.

You do not need a criminal record check to join our site, however many home owners request a check.
To get a criminal record check please visit https://www.justice.govt.nz/criminal-records/get-your-own/ for more information.
The process may be different in other countries.

We don’t do automictic renewals for memberships. If you want to renew that’s up to you. If you don’t that’s fine too.

Yes, we send 2 email reminder notices before your membership expires; one at 14 days and one at 3 days.

The credit will be carried forward onto your new membership i.e., if you were to renew today and your 12 month membership expires in 14 days, you’ll get 12 months PLUS 14 days.

You will have limited access to your Account.
Also note that when you do not renew your membership, we put your profile into a “Closed Down” mode. This means your profile will not be shown in our search results and home owners will not be able to contact you.

In most cases, the answer is no.
Please check our Terms & Conditions for more information.

You can upload these documents directly on our site via your profile from the “Documents” section on the Uploads tab.
The files can only be viewed by home owner members who you have either initiated contact with or replied to. Please do keep in mind that you should have permission from referees to share their reference.

Alternatively you can share with the home owner in your messages a link to your documents, you first need to upload your references to a third party provide such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, CloudMe – all of these services are free.

Offering free verification checks for house sitters helps us build more trust amongst our home owner members. Verification gives the home owner extra peace of mind when searching our site for a suitable house sitter.
Go to the verification page for more information.
If approved, a ID Verified Badge will be shown on your house sitter profile page and on your listing card in our search results.

We offer free ID checks for our home owner members.
The Photo ID document you provides us is examined by a website moderator (not a third party provider).
If approved, a ID Verified Badge will be shown on the home owners listings and their author page.

Our platform values timely communication and provides a Response Rating to reflect how quickly members reply to messages. Here’s how it works:
Calculating Average Response Time:
New users: All new users start with an average response time of 24 hours.
Initial Message: When a new message is sent to you, the time it was sent is recorded.
Reply Time: We calculate how long it takes for you to respond to this initial message.
No Reply: If you haven’t replied within 4 days, or if your reply is received after 4 days, it is counted as a 4-day response time. This ensures fairness by giving you up to 4 days to respond without negatively impacting your rating if you eventually reply.
Calculation Method: The average response time is computed based on the response times of all initial messages where you were the receiver. If you respond within 4 days, your actual response time is used. If you don’t reply or reply late (after 4 days), a 4-day response time is used to reflect the delay.
Response Time Categories:
Usually responds within a few hours: Average response time is less than 1 hour.
Usually responds within 24 hours: Average response time is between 1 hour and 24 hours.
Usually responds within 48 hours: Average response time is between 24 hours and 48 hours.
Usually responds within 72 hours: Average response time is between 48 hours and 72 hours.
Usually responds in a few days: Average response time exceeds 72 hours.

To help you stay on top of your communications, we have implemented a Reminder System.
You will receive 2 notifications at regular intervals to remind you of outstanding messages. This helps ensure that messages are addressed promptly and contributes to maintaining a positive response rating. If you do not respond within the specified timeframe (4 days), your response rating will be negatively impacted. This encourages timely communication and helps maintain the quality of interactions on our platform.

After registering, paying the membership fee, activating your account, and publishing your house sitter profile, you will see a button to apply for the house sit on the house sitting position you are viewing at the time. You can access your message box via your dashboard, or by going directly to the Messages page.

A Home Owner can send you an invitation to confirm the House Sit by clicking the “Invite House Sitter” button in the conversation between you and the Home Owner. At the time, the home owner will also need to select the dates they need you. Our system will check if you are available for these dates.
Once submitted, we will send you an email and you may take action by either accepting or declining the invitation via your My House Sits page. Please note that whilst the request is pending, the dates will be updated in your calendar and marked as pending. If you approve the request, the dates will be marked as booked in your calendar, meaning no other home owner can send you a request for these dates.
Confirming a House Sit enables both the Home Owner and House Sitter to leave each other a review after the House Sit has been completed.

Please discuss with the Home Owner and make arrangements with them. You can cancel a confirmed house sit at anytime, and so can the home owner.

Any confirmed bookings are automatically blocked out on your calendar. Bookings that are pending and also blocked out. If you decline or cancel a booking, the dates are made available again. To mark dates as unavailable, please edit your house sitter listing and go to the calendar tab. From there you can manually block out dates.

Once a house sit is confirmed, you and the home owner can message each other directly via the house sit confirmation detail page, rather than the messages page. We feel this makes it easier for both parties to keep new messages/enquiries and confirmed house sit message separate.

Yes. Home owners can leave house sitters a review as long the house sitter has accepted the House Sit and the end date has passed. A review button will be shown on the confirmed house sit. The home owner can give you an overall star rating and write a review. Once a review is submitted, it is instantly published to your house sitter listing. We will send you an email once published.

Yes, we’ll send them a review reminder 2 days after the house sit end date.

Yes. You can leave the home owner a review as long the House Sit was confirmed and the end date has passed. A review button will be shown on the confirmed house sit. You can give the home owner an overall star rating and write a review. Once a review is submitted, it is published live so please do have some consideration as to the review and rating you give.

We don’t allow sitters or homeowners to post public critical & uncomplimentary remarks about each other.
On rare occasions, there are very unreasonable homeowners and house sitters who don’t fulfil their side of the agreement.
If you are in an unfortunate situation where you find yourself in such a dilemma, we ask that you send your complaint to us directly along with true, clear factual and unemotional evidence and in dot point form. Please include the username of the other member!
We will view all evidence and information given, and take appropriate action from there.
We recommend both sides sign a House sitting Agreement, to avoid any misunderstandings. You may find our sample Housesitting Agreement via your main dashboard page.

You can subscribe to receive email alerts of new/updated house sitting positions in regions of your choice. Please note that when you first become a member, we will automatically subscribe you to receiving new house sit notifications for NZ.
To get started, simply tick the locations of interest on the daily email alerts page.
To unsubscribe from a state or states simply tick the checkbox next to the location and then click the remove button.
Note that for each region, we will send a separate email. If you would like to be notified about house sits in ALL NEW ZEALAND, simply check the “All NEW ZEALAND” checkbox. We will then just send one email with all the new house sits.

They are sent early in the morning on each day of the week.

If you are seeing the same house sit in your email alerts, it means the house sit has been updated with new details such as different dates.

When a home owner posts a job, it’s up to the home owner to manage that job posting and applicants. Once they find someone, they can either disabled their listing or delete it entirely.
Positions that have started will show a “Closed” badge in search results and will also show a note on the actual listing page.
Please note that NZ House Sitters is simply an online meeting platform where home owners can post a job and house sitters can apply for that job. We don’t know the home owners on the site or get directly involved in their hiring practice, so we have no way of knowing whether or not they have filled a particular position. We understand this can be frustrating at times, and we’re working on ways to create a better job search in the future!

Yes, but you’ll need to do this with a new account, including a different username and different email address. Once you’ve logged out of your house sitter account, you can head over to the home owner registration page to get started. We advise you to read the getting started guide and the FAQ’s.

You can request to have your account deleted via our contact form in the “Help” tab on your Dashboard.
Please note that when deleting an account, all your information will be deleted and is non retrievable. This includes your profile, reviews, calendar dates, shortlists etc.
Please read our Terms and Conditions for information about our refund policy.
Deleting of an account has no grounds for a refund!

We take all complaints seriously and members are required to take their agreed responsibilities seriously. We recommend both home owner and house sitter sign a House sitting Agreement (see our sample house sitting agreement via your Dashboard). This way everything is clear from the beginning and misunderstandings are avoided.
In the rare and unfortunate case of a negative experience, please lodge a complaint with us directly. This can be done the Contact Form.
We ask that complaints be sent to us that are factual and unemotional. We hear both sides and take appropriate action from there – including banning a home owner or house sitter from the site.
We reserve the right to ban members from our site, should we feel it is in the best interests of our other members.
For any serious complaints, we advise you to contact police or a relevant authorities, in addition to notifying us.
Serious complaints include, but are not limited to the following:
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Mental Abuse
Theft of Property
Mistreatment & Abuse of Animals
Misuse of Property

Please make sure you whitelist our email addresses:
– [email protected]
– [email protected]
Please also make sure to check all folders such as spam, junk, promotion or social folders

The website operates on New Zealand Standard Time.