House sitting: how it works, which homes suit it, the contract, and what it does not replace
House sitting rests on a simple exchange: a sitter lives in your house for part of the year, maintains it and watches over it, with no rent on one side and no fee on the other. It suits homes ready to live in, left empty for long months. This dossier says how it works, for which properties, what the contract must specify, and what it does not replace.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home SelectUpdated · 8 min read
How does home sitting work?
The principle is an exchange of good turns: you entrust the temporary occupation of your house to a sitter, often a retired couple, a remote worker or a family looking for a long stay without accommodation costs. In exchange for the roof, the sitter looks after the house, waters, keeps the garden in trim, cares for the pets when agreed, and alerts you if anything looks wrong.
No rent changes hands: occupation is paid for in care. Stretches run from a few weeks to a whole season, sometimes longer.
The formula was born of a simple observation: a lived-in house decays less than an empty one, and sitters exist for every season. Some flee the big-city winter, others look for a setting to write in, work remotely or revisit a region they love. What matters is the fit: a happy sitter takes care, a badly housed sitter endures, and the house feels it quickly. References and a careful first conversation tell you more than any written profile.
Which properties, which owners?
The question is not only whether the house is lovely, but whether it can be lived in without you: without your presence to unlock a situation, without your knowledge of the place, without your access. A sitter must be able to live, act and alert independently.
Home sitting works when the house is pleasant to live in and the absence is long and predictable. The formula also assumes that you can let go: someone else will sleep in your rooms, use your kitchen and live at their own rhythm while you are away.
It typically suits:
furnished detached houses that are immediately habitable;
absences of a season or more, winter or summer;
properties that call for a regular presence: garden, pool, pets to mind;
owners who prefer a lived-in house to an empty one.
It suits less well:
studios and small flats in co-owned buildings, where an unknown occupant is quickly noticed and raises questions;
properties undergoing works, let, or listed for sale over the period;
short, repeated absences, which a neighbour or light caretaking covers better.
What must a home sitting contract state?
Home sitting relies on trust, and trust is written down. With no tenancy agreement in place, it is the contract that organises everyone’s rights and duties; a template from a specialised organisation offers a solid base, to be adapted to your house and to the planned season. A serious contract, even a simple one, states at least:
What the contract states
Why it matters
Exact move-in and move-out dates, with joint inventory reports
Sets the starting point of responsibilities and makes before / after comparison easy
The agreed list of care: garden, pool, plants, pets
Avoids implicit expectations and forgotten gestures
Who pays charges and consumption
Prevents ambiguity over electricity, water and heating
Insurance on both sides, certificates exchanged
Separates responsibilities if a claim arises during the stay
Clear prohibitions: subletting, long-term guests, works
Protects the owner and the agreed way of living
What to do if something goes wrong: alert, do not improvise
Ensures the sitter reports rather than repairing alone
Terms for early termination
Lets you take the house back without conflict if needed
What does home sitting not replace?
A lived-in house is not an administered house. Three tasks remain yours:
The written record. A sitter’s account does not carry the weight of an inspection visit with a photo report, dated, archived, that can be set against an insurer’s file. Professional visits therefore usefully complete the guardianship.
The mail. A sitter can mention a full letterbox, but tax, bank and managing-agent continuity calls for a dedicated method: the dossier on handling your French mail from abroad sets it out.
Claims. Water damage during the stay is declared, documented and coordinated under a procedure that binds you, the owner, and whose deadlines run whatever happens.
Add an obvious point: a sitter looks after, they do not decide. Works, compliance upgrades and trade-offs remain your call, with whatever advice suits you.
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Alpes
How do you prepare the house before the sitter arrives?
A successful stay is prepared like a visit you would organise for family:
a clean home, heated if the season requires it, with appliances checked;
a folder of instructions: water and gas shut-offs, breakers, temperamental equipment, useful numbers;
a basic stock for the first days, especially if the house is isolated;
paperwork in order: insurance, boiler servicing, garden contract if needed;
a list of what stays behind and what you take with you, appended to the contract;
a contact who can be reached nearby, for life’s small emergencies.
Think also of what cannot be seen: access to the meters, the key to the technical room, the alarm code, what to do in a power cut. Every written detail spares a call in the middle of the night, your time zone not being the sitter’s.
How do you surround yourself well before handing over the house?
From a distance, choosing the sitter deserves more than an exchange of emails. Checked references, a thorough conversation, a joint visit to the house where possible, simple written instructions, an informed neighbour: each of these gestures lowers the risk of an unhappy experience. A short trial period, over a modest absence, often says more than a long file.
Plan too for a regular check-in during the stay: an agreed exchange at set intervals, simple photos to match, without constant surveillance. Trust feeds on transparency on both sides, and the house lives better when the relationship stays peaceful. A sitter who feels trusted looks after the house as if it were their own, which is precisely the outcome you are seeking.
Having your house looked after without delegating blindly is possible. A lived-in house, tracked mail, documented visits: the three combine better than you might think, and each covers what the others leave open.
What Home Select organises for having your home looked after
A property held from abroad is prepared from the purchase. During the viewings, your Home Select property finder spots what will need upkeep; before the signing, they introduce the concierge service that will watch over the house in your absence.
After the keys, the Home Select concierge service organises the visits, the call-outs and the photographed reports. Tradespeople, the insurer and the managing agent act under their own responsibility; you decide on documents, wherever you are.
Frequently asked questions
Does home sitting work for a flat in a co-owned building?
Less often: the presence of an unknown occupant is quickly noticed and may raise questions from the managing agent or the neighbours. Furnished detached houses remain the natural home of home sitting. Each situation is weighed case by case.
Who is insured during the stay?
In principle, the owner’s home insurance covers the occupied property, and the sitter’s own policy answers for their faults. Both certificates should be exchanged before moving in. The exact terms appear in the contract.
Should I go through a home sitting organisation?
It is not compulsory, but an organisation selects, checks and frames the sitters, which matters when you live far away. At a distance, a structured arrangement usually beats an informal one between individuals.
How does home sitting work?
The principle is an exchange of good turns: you entrust the temporary occupation of your house to a sitter, often a retired couple, a remote worker or a family looking for a long stay without accommodation costs. In exchange for the roof, the sitter looks after the house, waters, keeps the garden in trim, cares for the pets when agreed, and alerts you if anything looks wrong.
Which properties, which owners?
The question is not only whether the house is lovely, but whether it can be lived in without you: without your presence to unlock a situation, without your knowledge of the place, without your access. A sitter must be able to live, act and alert independently.
What must a home sitting contract state?
Home sitting relies on trust, and trust is written down. With no tenancy agreement in place, it is the contract that organises everyone’s rights and duties; a template from a specialised organisation offers a solid base, to be adapted to your house and to the planned season. A serious contract, even a simple one, states at least:
What does home sitting not replace?
A lived-in house is not an administered house. Three tasks remain yours: Add an obvious point: a sitter looks after, they do not decide. Works, compliance upgrades and trade-offs remain your call, with whatever advice suits you.
How do you prepare the house before the sitter arrives?
A successful stay is prepared like a visit you would organise for family: Think also of what cannot be seen: access to the meters, the key to the technical room, the alarm code, what to do in a power cut. Every written detail spares a call in the middle of the night, your time zone not being the sitter’s.
How do you surround yourself well before handing over the house?
From a distance, choosing the sitter deserves more than an exchange of emails. Checked references, a thorough conversation, a joint visit to the house where possible, simple written instructions, an informed neighbour: each of these gestures lowers the risk of an unhappy experience. A short trial period, over a modest absence, often says more than a long file.
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