Pet sitter - covered by home insurance?

roadweary

Hi,

We booked a holiday months ago for early July and had a vetted sitter arranged through trustedhousesitters.com.  That site provides specific insurance.

Unfortunately due to family circumstances they've had to pull out last minute.  We're looking for others on the site but time is very short now.

Through a facebook group it seems very likely that we can find a pet sitter, and look at references etc.  Of course we're not professionals and these things can be faked but you have to go with gut feel, doing your best due diligence, video calls etc. at some point.

Anyhow, the question is, would having a pet sitter void house insurance....whether for accidental damage, or malicious damage / theft?  If those things aren't covered, are you aware of an insurance policy we could take out to cover that?

My searching so far has only found insurance that a house sitter would take out as opposed to the house sittee, to invent a word

Thanks,
R

DullGreyGuy

For belt, braces and superglue level of certainty then ask your current insurers. 

I can't recall any policy wording that would have grounds for excluding it. Though the embedded Employers Liability cover for Domestic Staff is less common than it used to be were they to injure themselves whilst in your home because of that loose floorboard you've been meaning to fix for years.

Aretnap

If you post a link to your insurer's policy wording we could check any clauses which could cause you problems. 

In general claims would not be included just because you hired a pet sitter (or cleaner, or plumber etc). However that doesn't automatically mean that everything you list would be covered. For example accidental damage is an optional extra on many home insurance policies - if your policy covers accidental damage then it will cover accidental damage caused by the pet sitter, but if it doesn't then it won't. Some policies also say that theft will only be covered if it is accompanied by evidence of forced or violent entry - which would exclude theft by anyone in the home with your consent. Etc etc. So your really need to check your own policy to be sure if what is and isn't covered.