How to become a house sitter

House sitting suits people who love animals, look after other people's homes as carefully as their own, and enjoy staying somewhere new. Here is how to become a house sitter with Home Tales, step by step.

1. Sign up as a sitter

Create an account as a house sitter. You'll need to be 18 or over. Membership is free while we launch.

2. Verify your identity

Confirm your email address and phone number, then verify your photo ID (a passport, driving licence or national ID card) with Stripe, our identity and payments partner. Hosts can see that you've been through these checks, and you need all three before you can message hosts or apply for sits.

3. Build your profile

Your profile is what hosts read when deciding who to trust with their home. Add a clear photo of yourself, a display name, where you're based, the languages you speak, a short tag line and a fuller description of you and your experience with pets and homes. Be specific: the pets you've cared for, the kinds of homes, and anything you're especially good at, like giving medication or looking after animals outdoors.

4. Pass House Sitting Basics

Every Home Tales sitter passes House Sitting Basics before they can apply for a sit. It's free, takes about 15 minutes, and covers preparing for a sit, the handover, pet care, looking after the home, what to do when things go wrong, and leaving the home as you found it. It ends in a 10-question test, and you need 8 right to pass. You can have three attempts in any 24 hours.

Passing earns the House Sitting Basics qualification, shown on your profile. You can go further with Pet Care & Safety, Home Guardian: Homes & Emergencies and Rural Sits: Horses, Poultry & Livestock, which cost £11.99 each. Every qualification you pass shows on your profile for hosts to see.

5. Apply for sits

Search for house sits by place and dates. Each listing shows the pets, the home and how the host will reward you: a guaranteed tip, a possible tip at the end, or an unpaid sit. When you apply, write to the host about why you're a good fit for their home and pets, not a message you'd send to everyone. Before agreeing anything, talk to the host, ideally by video call, and agree the details in writing through Home Tales messages.

6. Set up payouts

To receive tips, you set up payouts with Stripe, which asks for your identity and bank details, and add your tax details to Home Tales. You need both before you can confirm a sit with a guaranteed tip, so it's worth doing before a host accepts you. Home Tales keeps 5% of each tip, and we report what sitters earn through Home Tales to HMRC under the rules for digital platforms. Being reported doesn't mean you owe tax, but you may need to tell HMRC about earnings over £1,000 in a tax year.

7. Confirm the sit

When a host accepts your application, you confirm the sit and it's booked. Read the host's welcome pack before you arrive. See what a house sitter does for what the sit itself involves.

8. Build your reputation

After each sit, the host reviews you. Hosts choosing a sitter read those reviews, alongside your qualifications and the number of sits you've completed, so every good sit makes the next one easier to get.

Founding Sitters

The first 20 sitters to verify their photo ID and pass House Sitting Basics become Founding Sitters, with a permanent numbered badge on their profile.