What to put in a house sitting welcome pack

A welcome pack is everything your sitter needs to know about your home and your pets, written down. It's the most useful thing you can give them, because it's there at 2am when you're not. Write it as if your sitter has never been to your home, because they haven't.

The things they mustn't miss

Start with the few things that matter most: the dog who slips out of the side gate, the cat who needs her tablet at exactly 8am, the back door that only locks if you lift the handle. Put them at the top, before anything else, so they're read first.

Contacts

• How to reach you while you're away, and the time difference if there is one.
• A second contact who can make decisions if you can't be reached. Tell them they're named.
• A local emergency contact who has a spare key and can help in person.
• Your vet, the out-of-hours vet, and your pet insurance details.
• The tradespeople you trust: a plumber, an electrician, whoever services the boiler.

Each pet's routine

Your pets can't tell the sitter what they need, so you have to. For each one:

• Feeding amounts in grams or a named scoop, and the times, including treats.
• Any medication: the dose, the time, and how the pet takes it best.
• Walks: how long, where, whether they're allowed off the lead, and anything they react to.
• What's normal for them, so the sitter can spot what isn't: how much they usually eat, where they like to sleep, whether they hide when it storms.
• Fears, escape habits, and how they behave with visitors and other animals.
• Where the cat carrier, the lead and the spare food are.

The home

• Where the main water shut-off (the stopcock), the fuse box and the gas meter are.
• How the heating and hot water work, what the boiler pressure should read, and where the manual is.
• Bin days, and which bin is which.
• The Wi-Fi name and password.
• Anything with a knack to it: the oven, the shower, the sticky lock.
• Who else might come to the house, such as a cleaner, a gardener or a delivery.
• For rural homes: the fields, the water troughs, the feed store, and directions an ambulance could follow.

Keys, codes and the alarm

Which key opens what, the alarm code, and what to do if the alarm goes off. These are the things you least want sitting in an email for weeks, so on Home Tales they go in a private section, which your sitter can only open a week before the sit.

If something goes wrong

• What the sitter should do if a pet is ill and you can't be reached, and how much they may spend.
• That your vet knows you're away, has your permission for the sitter to agree to treatment, and knows how the bill will be paid.
• How much the sitter may spend to make the home safe, say after a leak, if they can't reach you.
• If a pet is old or unwell, what you would want if they became very ill while you were away. It's a hard thing to write down, and a far harder thing for a sitter to guess.

For what your sitter should do, and when, see what to do if a pet gets ill on a house sit.

Settling in, and leaving

Local shops, a nice walk, the best place for a coffee. Then, at the end: what you'd like done before the sitter goes, such as fresh bedding, the bins, where to leave the keys. Small things, but they make the start and the end of a sit easier for both of you.

Welcome packs on Home Tales

When you list your home, Home Tales walks you through your welcome pack one section at a time, from "Don't miss" to "Leaving". You can add photos and videos to any section, which beat a paragraph about where the stopcock is. Your sitter can search the whole pack, so "bin day" or "vet" finds the answer in seconds. Your sitter sees it once the sit is agreed, and the private sections, for keys and codes, a week before it starts.

For everything else that goes into a good sit, from choosing a sitter to the handover, see what a house sitter does, or take Getting Your Home Ready for a Sitter, a 15-minute course for hosts.