Sitting pretty at holiday time

Graham Norwood looks at a growing demand from vacationing home-owners for paid house-sitters to look after their properties and pets while they are away

Increasing number of homeowners are hiring people to stay in their houses at holiday times – and reaping the reward of reduced insurance as well as peace of mind while on vacation.

House-sitting is a growing business destined to get bigger as fear of crime increases.

Housewatch is one of about 15 sitting agencies in the UK, serving some 50 clients a month as far apart as Scotland and Cornwall, although demand is greatest among residents in rural properties in the home counties, who form a significant majority of customers.

Like most agencies House-watch finds appropriate people to live in the property during the owner’s holiday.

“Most of our house-sitters –we call them ‘watchers’ –are retired, aged around 60-65 and normally professionals, like former police officers, service personnel or retired teachers,” says Jane Murphy, one of House-watch’s four full-time staff.

“We insist they have their own car and their own property. We’ve never advertised – all the watchers we have came to us, and we interviewed them and took up references. ”

The watchers have to be in the house for at least 21 out of every 24 hours – they can go to the shops or walk pets, but cannot go out for the evening.

“We make sure our watchers have fidelity bond cover – that’s a dishonesty policy in lay person’s terms – and there’s an insurance policy to cover around £100,000 damage on a property,” says Murphy.

One bonus for the house-owner of using a house-sitter – and a possible hazard for the sitter – is that many people leave their pets at home to be looked after.

“We just had someone with 13 tortoises, and there are lizards, the odd rat, and quite a few llamas. Few of our watchers will deal with reptiles or spiders, but a recent client had a lizard which had to be fed live locusts – but the legs had to be broken off first. Luckily, two elderly ladies seemed very happy to be in the house and oblige,” recalls Murphy.

All house-sitting agencies follow similar steps to ensure peace of mind for their customers:

· A client specifies what needs looking after – the house, animals, car(s), or even a boat.

· The agency matches the homeowner’s requirements with someone living as close as possible to the home.

· Client and house-sitter then meet. If all is well, the client confirms the booking.

· The client prepares a final briefing for the sitter on how equipment works and the requirements of any pets.

· A deal is struck on a “float” of petty cash to cover breakages or minor repairs during the client’s absence.

“We’ve spent an hour with the person who’s stayed in our home every time we’ve used the service,” says Mary Hewett, a client of Housewatch for six years.

“We’ve always given sitters a clear run-down of how the services work, the insurance stipulations and how to get hold of us in emergencies, and everything has worked well.”

“I wouldn’t dream of going on holiday without using such a service now. It gives me the security of knowing someone is in the home, makes sure our pets get exercised far more than they would at kennels, and isn’t much more expensive than boarding the animals,” she says.

Housewatch is fairly typical in charging £23 a day plus VAT for looking after the house. A cat costs a further £1 a day, a dog up to £2,50 and exotic or demanding animals could cost more.

Some agencies ask for an extra sum – usually about £5 a day to cover food and drink for the sitter. A two-week trip could set you back £500.

Yet order-books have never been busier. “Our business has expanded quite dramatically over the past five years,” says Adele Barclay, managing director of Homesitters.

“People like the idea of their house being looked after by someone mature who has the experience of looking after their own home. Slightly older people have much more appreciation of possessions, too.”

Traditional home-sitting services attract traditional customers – normally the country set. A new service in London is targeting younger professional groups who travel frequently and for long periods, but are reluctant to rent out their property during their absence.

HomeSearch London is a relocation consultancy which is launching a “home alone” packages of services within the area bounded by the M25. The services range from redirection of mail to paying property-related bills, and from routine cleaning to undertaking maintenance work. However, no one stays in the property.

London is a fantastic hub attracting business people from throughout the world.

“Many will buy pied-à-terres which they may have to leave empty for some months –perhaps while they go to their home country for the summer, or abroad on business for some months, “ says HomeSearch London chief James Moss.

The company charges £100 a month plus any costs incurred for the specific service required – for example, Post Office costs for letter redirection or the plumber’s charge for repairing a leak.

“We started offering this service for properties we were managing for our relocation clients, but then we realised just how large a market there was for this kind of service in an international centre like London,” says Moss.

(The Financial Times, June2005)

2.1 Explain the usage of the ing-forms in the sentence in bold style, state their function and make up ten sentences of your own on the same pattern.

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