A house sitter is usually the thing that protects your home insurance, not the thing that threatens it. The clause behind the worry has a name, unoccupancy, and on the insurer guidance checked for this article it starts counting only after 60 continuous days with nobody sleeping in the home, which someone staying overnight resets. What differs between insurers is the definition of unoccupied, the number of days and the consequence of crossing it, so the only answer that binds you is the one in your own Product Disclosure Statement, confirmed by your insurer in writing.
Your policy will not mention house sitting. The words to search it for are unoccupied, unoccupancy, and continuous or consecutive days. Insurers price a house with people in it differently from an empty one, which is why the Insurance Council of Australia's insurer directory lists unoccupied home as its own product category, alongside home insurance and landlord building insurance.
Most Australian policies start counting at 60 continuous days
CHOICE reviewed home and contents policies for its guide to extended holidays and home insurance, last updated 25 March 2026. Almost all product disclosure statements require you to tell the insurer if the home will be unoccupied for 60 days or more. A few allow 90, and some allow 100.
Sixty days is not a fortnight in Bali. It is the lap grey nomads run from Ceduna to Broome, the European summer, a long stint in hospital, or the months between selling in Coorparoo and settling somewhere else. If your trip is shorter than the number in your policy, the unoccupancy clause was never going to bite.
CHOICE also sets out the three ways insurers respond once that threshold is passed. Most impose an additional excess on anything that happens while the home is empty. Some charge a higher premium instead. Others narrow cover to a limited set of weather events. None of the three is a cancellation: the policy keeps running, it just covers less or costs more per claim for the stretch the house was empty.
| The term in your PDS | What it describes | Why it decides your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Unoccupied | Nobody sleeping or living in the home. Budget Direct's definition turns on nobody sleeping or living there for more than two days, including overnight. | A sitter who sleeps in the house stops the clause applying at all. |
| Continuous or consecutive days | The counter runs only while the home is empty. Suncorp and Apia both publish 60 continuous days. | A stay part-way through a trip restarts the count from zero. |
| Unoccupied excess | An extra excess added to your normal one for claims arising in the unoccupied period. Budget Direct publishes $1,000. | The usual consequence is a bigger bill, not a refused claim. |
| Security and safekeeping conditions | Mail collected, lawns mown, someone checking the property. Budget Direct also lists turning the water off at the mains. | Missing one can sink a claim inside the covered period. |
| Restricted insured events | Cover narrowed to a limited set of weather events. | This is the version people mean when they say cover was voided. |
The gaps are not cosmetic. Budget Direct lists turning the water off at the mains among its unoccupancy conditions, while CHOICE warns that with some insurers doing exactly that is what tips a home into being treated as unoccupied.
A sitter sleeping in the house resets the count, and insurers say so themselves
Three insurers publish this on their own sites, all read on 22 August 2026.
- Budget Direct says a trusted person staying two consecutive nights resets the 60-day occupancy timer, avoiding its $1,000 unoccupied excess. Its outer limit is 180 days, beyond which cover ceases.
- Suncorp treats a property as unoccupied after 60 continuous days vacant, and suggests asking someone to stay two consecutive nights to reset the timer.
- Apia considers a house unoccupied after 60 continuous days of nobody living there, and says two consecutive days of it being lived in resets the window.
CHOICE's home insurance expert Daniel Graham puts the general rule this way: "Having a house-sitter will usually meet the criteria for occupancy". He adds that it turns on how each insurer defines occupied, and that someone dropping in for one night now and then may not be enough. That is the point of a live-in arrangement. A neighbour who calls in to feed the cat leaves an empty house behind each evening. A sitter is there every night for the dates on the calendar.
Time is not the only trigger. Suncorp also treats a home as unoccupied if no utilities are connected or it is not furnished enough to live in, and Budget Direct's definition extends to someone living in your home without your consent.
What your insurer wants to know is whether money changes hands
Insurance language turns on payment. A paying occupant starts to look like a tenant, and a tenanted property is usually a different product, which is why landlord building insurance sits in its own category in that directory. CHOICE's expert makes the same point about short-stay guests: once paying guests are involved, the insurer sees a business.
On Sitterly the sit itself is non-monetary: no money changes hands for the sit, no rent, and no per-booking commission. Give your insurer that description in those words and ask which category it puts you in. The classification is theirs to make, not yours to assume.
The five questions to put to your insurer, in these words
Ring or email a few weeks before you travel, not the week you leave. Give them your dates, say a person will live in the home for the whole period, and say no rent and no payment passes either way.
- Unoccupancy. How many continuous days can my home have nobody sleeping in it before the unoccupancy terms apply, and does someone staying overnight for the whole period satisfy the occupancy condition?
- Classification. What do you call a person who stays in my home, pays no rent and is paid nothing, and does that change any part of my cover?
- Consequence. If the unoccupancy terms did apply, what changes: an extra excess, a higher premium or a narrower list of insured events, and what conditions would you require of me?
- Theft and deliberate damage. If something is taken or deliberately damaged by a person lawfully in my home with my permission, is that treated the same as a break-in?
- Accidental damage. Do I have accidental damage cover, and does it matter whether I broke it or my sitter did?
Get the answer in writing
Ask the consultant to email their reply, or send your own email setting out what you were told and ask them to confirm it. A phone call you cannot produce later is worth very little in a dispute.
If anyone suggests you keep it simple and call your sitter friends staying over, do not. CHOICE is direct about what non-disclosure allows: an insurer can decline cover altogether, exclude particular events such as theft or leaks, or charge an extra excess, case by case.
Theft or deliberate damage by someone you invited in is a separate question
Consumer Protection WA, in a Commissioner's blog on house sitting published 9 April 2025, warns that while your home and contents insurance might cover accidental loss and damage, many policies carry exclusions for deliberate damage and theft caused by people lawfully invited onto your property, such as cleaners, sitters and their guests. It tells homeowners to ask their insurer whether cover can be modified for someone living or working in the home.
That is a state regulator telling you to make the call, and it is the exposure that survives a clean answer on unoccupancy. It is also why the paperwork matters: our guide to what belongs in a house sitting agreement sets out the clauses that decide who wears what. Consumer Protection WA is a Western Australian agency, and the exclusion it describes is a feature of policy wording rather than of WA law. If you are somewhere else, the agency to ring is your own state or territory's, and the question itself is one for your own insurer either way.
Accidental damage is a separate gap. Moneysmart says most contents insurance does not include cover for accidental damage, and that it may be worth adding if you want cover for mishaps.
Two things this article does not cover
Whether a live-in sitter acquires any occupancy or tenancy right under your state or territory's residential tenancy law sits outside this article. It varies by jurisdiction and it is a legal question, not an insurance one. Put it to your state or territory consumer affairs or fair trading agency, or to your own solicitor.
The sitter's own exposure is a separate piece. What a sitter is liable for and what pet sitting insurance actually covers deal with that half.
What to do before you go
Read the policy itself. Moneysmart says the Key Fact Sheet helps you compare policies more easily because the government sets its information and layout, and that the Product Disclosure Statement is where the detail of what is covered sits. Then build the record you would need if anything happened.
- Photograph every room, including damage already there, and high-value items individually. Moneysmart's claims guidance says to photograph before repairs begin, and before-and-after only works if the before exists.
- Note the meter readings and the date, put the arrangement in writing, and file your insurer's reply somewhere you can reach it from overseas.
If a claim is declined, you have three places to go
Start with the insurer's internal dispute resolution process, in writing. Moneysmart suggests putting the word complaint in the heading or subject line, with your name, contact details, the date, a clear explanation of the problem and the outcome you want. The General Insurance Code of Practice, which binds the insurers that subscribe to it, says that if you ask for a report the insurer relied on, it will give you that report within 10 business days. If that fails, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority is free for consumers and Moneysmart lists its number as 1800 931 678. The Financial Rights Legal Centre runs an Insurance Law Service on 1300 663 464, weekdays 10am to 1pm Sydney time.
Common questions
- Do I have to tell my insurer that a house sitter is staying?
- Only your insurer can say whether you are required to, and CHOICE found almost all product disclosure statements require notice at 60 days or more of unoccupancy. Tell them anyway, in writing, because it records what you disclosed and what you were told.
- Does having a house sitter stop my home being classed as unoccupied?
- Usually. Budget Direct, Suncorp and Apia each publish that a person staying two consecutive nights resets their 60-day unoccupancy clock, on pages read on 22 August 2026. Confirm it with your own insurer, because each writes its own definition.
- What happens if I am away for longer than 60 days?
- Usually an extra excess on claims arising in that period rather than a loss of cover. Some insurers charge a higher premium instead, and some narrow the insured events. Budget Direct publishes an outer limit of 180 days, beyond which cover ceases.
- Does Sitterly provide any insurance?
- No. Sitterly does not provide insurance of any kind and is not a party to the arrangement between you and your sitter. Sitterly supports the connection. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for their own arrangements.
Post a listing, free
One email to your insurer, a few weeks out, is the whole job. Once the reply is filed, what is left is choosing the person. Post a listing on Sitterly and set out your dates, your pets and your house before anyone applies. It is free for homeowners, always, and how Sitterly works walks through the rest.
This article is general information only and is not insurance, financial or legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account. Insurer wording described here was read on 22 August 2026 and can change. Always read your own Product Disclosure Statement, and speak to your insurer or your own adviser before deciding anything.
