House sitting is an exchangeA traveller moves into your home and looks after your cat, in exchange for a place to stay.

It’s an exchange: a cat sitter moves into your home while you’re away and looks after your cat on site, in return for the home you lend them. The cat keeps its flat, its smells and its routines, and is never alone at night. It’s the option for long absences: for a weekend, one or two visits a day are usually enough.

Nothing at all, however long it lasts. You set no price and pay your cat sitter nothing, as they stay at your place while you’re away, and The Cat Society doesn’t charge you anything either: no subscription, no commission, no service fee. Posting your listing, receiving applications, reading them, messaging and booking a stay are free, with no limit on number. Your cat sitter, for their part, has a subscription with The Cat Society: that is what funds the service.

No. No money changes hands on the sitting, neither from you to them nor the other way round. The home lent during the stay is the exchange, and that is the whole agreement. So there is no payment to release at the end of the sitting, no invoice for the stay and nothing that can be withheld. The sitter has a subscription with The Cat Society, separate from the sittings; you have nothing to pay.

A sitter whose identity has been checked against an official ID and who has had a one-to-one interview with our team, in person or by video call. About 2 applicants in 3 are not accepted. You then choose for yourself among the sitters who reply to your listing, after messaging them and, if you wish, after meeting them or having a video call. See available sitters.

Yes, that’s the whole difference from home visits, where the sitter drops by once or twice a day. In house sitting, they stay in the home for the whole agreed period, and The Cat Society prevents them from accepting another sitting with accommodation on the same dates: your cat is their only guest.

You and the sitter agree on it directly, through the messaging: keys handed over in person, a key box, a door code. The Cat Society plays no part in handling keys and never has access to your home.

To entrust your home to a house sitter, you need a holiday-home clause (clause de villégiature) in your home insurance policy, and you must tell your insurer that a house sitter will be staying. On the sitter’s side, the cover that matters is temporary-occupancy liability insurance (responsabilité civile villégiature), which covers fire, explosion and water damage they might cause in the home they occupy; ordinary personal liability insurance does not replace it. If they don’t have it, require them to take it out: without it, you risk not being compensated, and they risk being personally liable. The Cat Society provides no insurance covering damage to the home or to personal belongings. Our full guide to cover (in French) →

The rule doesn’t change: it’s up to them to be covered, and up to you to ask. The answer is simply less obvious. Insurance taken out in another country does not always cover stays in France, and above all not damage caused to the home being occupied; a traveller with no fixed home often has no home insurance at all; and travel insurance frequently excludes damage to the accommodation you are staying in. The safest option is to ask them, before the stay, for written confirmation from their insurer, passing on this question:

“Am I covered, as a temporary, unpaid occupant of a home in France, for any fire, explosion or water damage I might cause to that home?”

If they are not covered, it’s up to you to decide whether to go ahead with the stay. Either way, the holiday-home clause in your own policy remains your first protection. The Cat Society does not check sitters’ insurance.

No contract is required, but a written agreement signed by both parties is strongly recommended. It sets out the length of the stay and the house sitter’s responsibilities (looking after the home, caring for the cat, security), confirms that they do have liability insurance, and makes clear who is responsible for what in case of material damage, a dispute or something unexpected during the stay. On The Cat Society, your conversations go through the messaging: what is agreed there is dated and kept, and serves as a written record of your agreement.

Yes, under certain conditions. You must obtain your landlord’s written permission before hosting a house sitter, inform your insurer and, if necessary, take out cover suited to a third party staying temporarily. Without these precautions, you could be held liable if something goes wrong, and put at risk both your right to stay in the property and your insurance cover.

You can move back into your home at any time if it is reasonably necessary, and the sitter undertakes to leave within a reasonable time. You can also cancel the stay at any time, including on the day itself: since the sitting cost nothing, there is no refund to wait for and no deduction of any kind.