Home Insurance to cover a dog sitter staying in your house?

JimmyCricketInSpace

Hello,

First time poster, long time listener! I have a rather unique situation, I've seen some forum posts on this but struggled to find a solution, whether one even exists.

We have a dog sitter staying in our house as a service (we pay them) while we holiday.

Every insurance company or broker I've spoke to finds this too specialist to discuss. My current insurance company has gone far enough to say that the house would be covered under an accident (e.g. fires) but that would be as far as it goes, as they're not family members.

What we're looking for is full insurance, even temporary and expensive, for a full level of cover. 

For example the low cover would be something like the dog sitter leaving the door open by mistake and someone breaking in without forced entry, stealing everything. Currently that wouldn't be covered.

The high level cover would be the dog sitter breaking or stealing something from the house (I know this isn't likely as we trust them, but it's still for peace of mind).

Sadly no one will even discuss this with us, I'm not sure if this is an insurance thing in general but they say they won't say what'll be insured in the case of something happening in the future such as these situations, as it shows intent. I don't understand how that works if you're purchasing insurance and they can't tell you what that insurance covers though...

Does anyone have any knowledge on this? Of course the dog sitter says they have insurance, but as far as I know they could of cancelled it that day. So we're looking for full peace of mind of insurance on our side.

Thank you so much, grasping at straws here!

Devongardener

I doubt any insurance company would cover the actions or security mistakes of a non family member staying in your home, anymore than it would cover a family member leaving a door open.  If you have accidental damage cover that would probably cover accidental breakages.  Your dog sitter’s own insurance is likely to be limited to cover loss or injury to the dog, rather than their actions in someone else’s home.

DullGreyGuy

JimmyCricketInSpace said:

First time poster, long time listener! I have a rather unique situation, I've seen some forum posts on this but struggled to find a solution, whether one even exists.

We have a dog sitter staying in our house as a service (we pay them) while we holiday.

Every insurance company or broker I've spoke to finds this too specialist to discuss. My current insurance company has gone far enough to say that the house would be covered under an accident (e.g. fires) but that would be as far as it goes, as they're not family members.

What we're looking for is full insurance, even temporary and expensive, for a full level of cover. 

For example the low cover would be something like the dog sitter leaving the door open by mistake and someone breaking in without forced entry, stealing everything. Currently that wouldn't be covered.

The high level cover would be the dog sitter breaking or stealing something from the house (I know this isn't likely as we trust them, but it's still for peace of mind).

Sadly no one will even discuss this with us, I'm not sure if this is an insurance thing in general but they say they won't say what'll be insured in the case of something happening in the future such as these situations, as it shows intent. I don't understand how that works if you're purchasing insurance and they can't tell you what that insurance covers though...

Does anyone have any knowledge on this? Of course the dog sitter says they have insurance, but as far as I know they could of cancelled it that day. So we're looking for full peace of mind of insurance on our side.

Thank you so much, grasping at straws here!

Realistically what percentage of the year is the dog sitter living in your property?

Can you not hire the sitter via an agency where they, rather than the sitter, provide the insurance so you have greater confidence that they arent going to cancel it?

Home insurance won't cover deliberate acts by those that you invite into your home so the dog sitter deciding to steal something is unlikely to be covered by any policy you buy but an agency could have cover for employee dishonesty. 

It's increasingly common for insurance to require there to be signs of violent or forced entry for a theft claim whereas it used to be limited to those who have non-family members permanently living with them or budget policies. 

Assuming you went for a higher tier provider who doesnt require evidence of forced entry then in principle you would be covered but you have the double issue of ensuring the "reasonable care" has been met, leaving a door open may not be considered such but also proving it was an outside person(s) that stole the items and not the sitter if there is no evidence of how they got in and out.