House Sitting FAQ — Questions from Owners and Sitters

House Sitting Australia (HSA) is a platform where Australian homeowners and house sitters find each other. Homeowners list a sit, sitters apply. It grew out of our Facebook community, which has been running since 2007 and now has more than 135,000 members. The app at hsa.oze.au is where you list, apply, message and manage a sit from beginning to end.

Yes. The group is still where the community meets, swaps stories and asks questions. The app handles what happens after you connect — listings, applications, private messaging, sit agreements and reviews — so nothing gets lost in a comment thread.

Sign up free at hsa.oze.au and choose whether you are a homeowner or a sitter. Homeowners have full access at no cost until 31 December 2026. Sitters can join as a Founding Member for $12 for the first year.

Browse sitter profiles and read the bio, experience, verification badges and reviews from previous sits. Shortlist the ones who suit you, then message them privately to talk through your home, your pets and your dates before you decide. You are never obliged to accept an application.

No. Public listings show only your suburb and postcode, and the map position is deliberately offset. Your full street address is stored privately and is shared with your chosen sitter through the signed sit agreement — never on the listing itself.

Sign in as a homeowner and add your dates, your pets, photos and what the sit involves. Publish when you are ready. Sitters apply through the app rather than in Facebook comments, so every application arrives in one place with the sitter's profile attached.

Use the shortlist to mark the sitters you are seriously considering, and the built-in decline messages to reply politely to the rest. Keeping every conversation inside HSA means you can go back to a shortlisted sitter later if your first choice falls through.

Search in plain English by location and dates. Each listing shows the full pet and property details, the suburb and what the homeowner expects, so you can decide whether it suits you before you apply.

Write an honest bio, list relevant experience and add clear photos. Optional verification badges — identity, Police Check, Working With Children — give homeowners more confidence, though none are required. Reviews from completed sits build up on your profile over time.

No. A Police Check and a Working With Children Check are optional badges you can add to your profile, and many sits need neither. Apply through the official Australian channels and upload the result when you are ready.

Homeowners have full access free until 31 December 2026. Sitters can join as a Founding Member for $12 for the first year, then $55 a year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. HSA never takes a commission on a sit.

Identity verification is optional and costs $10 as a one-off, non-refundable payment. It is handled by Stripe Identity, and once you are verified a green tick appears on your profile. HSA never sees or stores your ID document.

Verified profiles, private messaging, digital sit agreements, pet care cards and suburb-only public listings. Reviews are tied to sits that actually happened. None of this replaces your own judgement — always interview, check references and be satisfied before you agree to a sit.

A badge confirms that one specific detail was checked: an identity document, an address, a phone number, a Police Check. It is a fact about a record, not a guarantee of someone's character or of how they will care for your home.

After a sit is completed, the homeowner and the sitter can each review the other. Only people who actually completed a sit together through HSA can leave one, so every review is tied to a real stay. Ratings and review counts show on your profile.

Yes, and we have added extra security for Facebook sign-in specifically because Facebook accounts are a common target for cloning. HSA never sees your Facebook password.

Talk to the other party first — most problems turn out to be misunderstandings about routines or expectations. HSA does not mediate disputes and cannot compel either side. For anything serious, including safety concerns, email hsa@oze.au. Our Terms and Disclaimer set out what HSA is and is not responsible for.

Usually not. A house sit is normally an exchange: the sitter stays rent-free and looks after the home and pets, and the homeowner has their animals cared for in their own home. Where a homeowner has requirements beyond the usual, they may offer to pay for that. Whatever the two parties agree between themselves is fine — HSA does not get involved in payment and never takes a commission. In our Facebook group, homeowners may offer payment, but sitters may not ask for it.

For the sitter, yes. You pay the homeowner nothing and stay rent-free for the length of the sit, covering your own travel and food. A homeowner may offer payment where a sit involves more than the usual care, but that is between the two of you. For the homeowner, listing on HSA is free until 31 December 2026, and HSA never takes a commission on a sit.

It varies with the home. Most sits involve caring for pets — feeding, walks, medication, company — plus the ordinary things that keep a house looking lived in: bins out, mail collected, plants watered. The homeowner sets out exactly what is expected before you accept, and it is recorded in the sit agreement.

There is no set rule, and it varies a lot. In our community it is common to see homeowners looking six months ahead, while others post only a couple of weeks before they travel. Listing early gives you a wider choice of sitters and more time to meet them properly before you commit.