If someone is living in your house while you are away, is the house still unoccupied? It is a fair question, and it has no general answer. Unoccupied is a defined term, and each insurer writes its own definition, its own number of days and its own consequence for crossing them. Your policy already contains the version that applies to you. So this article will not tell you what your cover does, because it cannot. It sets out what to put to your insurer, in writing, early enough that you can act on the answer.
Key takeaways
- Your Product Disclosure Statement and Key Fact Sheet are the only documents that describe your actual cover. This article cannot.
- Insurers treat an empty home as a different risk. Whether a house sitter changes that, and after how many days, varies by insurer.
- Theft or deliberate damage by someone lawfully in your home is a different category from a break-in. Consumer Protection WA flags it as a common gap.
- Notify your insurer in writing even if you are told you do not have to. It costs nothing and creates a record.
- If a claim is denied, use the insurer's internal complaints process first, then AFCA. Free legal help is available.
Start with your PDS and your Key Fact Sheet
Every general insurance policy sold in Australia comes with a Product Disclosure Statement. It sets out what is covered, what is excluded and what conditions apply. Moneysmart is direct about this: to read the detail of what is covered, download the PDS.
Insurers must also give you a Key Fact Sheet. Moneysmart notes that its layout is set by government. It is a summary, not the contract. Where the two differ, the PDS governs.
Neither document was written with house sitting in mind. You are unlikely to find the words house sitter in either. That is why you ask rather than read and guess.
The five questions to ask your insurer
Call or email a few weeks before you travel, not the week you leave. Give them the facts: your dates away, that someone will live in the home for the whole period, and that no rent or payment changes hands either way.
- Unoccupancy. Does my policy limit how long the home can be left with nobody living in it, and does a person staying there satisfy that condition?
- Guest status. How do you classify someone staying in my home who pays nothing and is not a tenant, and does that change any part of my cover?
- Theft and deliberate damage. If something is taken or damaged deliberately by a person lawfully in the home with my permission, is that treated the same way as a break-in?
- Accidental damage. Does my policy include accidental damage, and does it matter whether I caused it or someone staying in my home caused it?
- Excess and claim history. What excess applies in each scenario, and would a claim of that kind affect my premium or my renewal?
Get the answer in writing
Ask the consultant to email their response, or send your own email summarising what you were told and ask them to confirm it. A phone call you cannot produce later is worth very little in a dispute.
What sits behind each question
The unoccupancy question
Insurers treat a home with nobody living in it as a different risk. You can see that in the market itself: the Insurance Council of Australia's insurer directory lists unoccupied home as its own product type.
What a policy says about it varies: the number of consecutive days, the definition of unoccupied, and the consequence all differ between insurers. A house sitter may resolve the issue entirely, because someone is living there. It may not, if the policy defines occupancy by who the person is. Be sceptical of any figure you read online. The only number that applies to you is in your own PDS.
Does a non-paying guest change anything
Insurance language often turns on money. A paying occupant can look like a tenant, and a tenanted property is usually a different product. A sitter on Sitterly pays nothing and is paid nothing, which keeps the arrangement outside that category, but your insurer defines its own terms and you want the classification in their words.
Insurance is one layer of confidence. Knowing who you are handing your keys to is another, and our guide to what verification actually tells you explains what a profile badge means.
Theft or damage by someone lawfully in the home
A burglary and a theft by an invited person are not the same event in insurance terms.
Consumer Protection WA, in its house sitting guidance, warns that home and contents policies often carry exclusions for deliberate damage and theft caused by people lawfully invited onto a property. It advises homeowners to ask their insurer whether cover can be modified for someone living or working in the home.
That is a state regulator telling homeowners to make the call. The word theft in a summary document may mean something narrower than you assume, so ask about it specifically.
Accidental damage
Moneysmart's guidance on contents insurance says most contents policies do not include accidental damage as standard, and that it can be added for an extra cost. A cracked cooktop or a broken television is the sort of thing that happens in a home being lived in.
Ask whether the option exists on your policy, what it costs, and whether it matters that you were not the person holding the glass.
Your excess
The excess is what you contribute to a claim, and Moneysmart lists it among the things to compare on any policy. It tells you whether a claim is worth making at all. If your excess is $1,000 and the damage is $600, insurance is not the answer and you and your sitter will need to work it out between you. That changes what you write into your agreement.
Whether to notify your insurer, and why to do it in writing
You may be told you do not need to notify anyone. Do it anyway, in writing.
General insurance runs on disclosure. If your insurer confirms nothing is affected, you have removed a future argument. If it wants a change, you have found out with time to arrange it.
A short email is enough. State the dates, say a house sitter will live in the home for that period and that no rent is paid, and ask them to confirm whether anything in your policy is affected. File the reply.
Most Australian general insurers subscribe to the General Insurance Code of Practice, which sets standards for being open, fair and honest, and timeframes for responding to customers.
What to document before you leave
Documentation is not distrust. It protects an honest sitter as much as it protects you, and it is the only way to establish the condition of anything after the fact.
- Photograph or video every room, including floors, walls, benchtops and any damage already there.
- Photograph high-value items individually: television, appliances, artwork, jewellery you are leaving behind.
- Record the electricity, gas and water meter readings and note the date.
- Keep receipts or valuations for anything that would need proof of value.
- Put the arrangement in writing and both sign it, covering dates, responsibilities, running costs and what happens if something breaks.
- Store all of it somewhere that is not inside the house.
Moneysmart's claims guidance tells you to photograph damage before repairs begin. Before and after only works if the before exists. Our guide to putting a house sitting agreement in writing covers what belongs in one.
If something happens and you need to claim
Moneysmart sets out the general shape of a claim. The timeframes are worth knowing before you are in the middle of one. Your insurer should respond within 10 business days of receiving the claim, with a decision or a request for more information. You should get progress updates at least every 20 business days, and a decision within four months. If a loss adjuster is appointed, you should be told within five business days.
Photograph the damage before repairs start, and speak to your insurer before authorising work. If theft or deliberate damage is suspected, report it to police: 000 if there is an emergency in progress, otherwise 131 444. Our article on what to do when a pet sit goes wrong covers the wider situation.
If your claim is denied
A denial is not the end of it. Start with the insurer's internal dispute resolution process, in writing. Moneysmart suggests putting the word complaint in the subject line, with your details, what went wrong, the outcome you want and copies of the documents. Ask for the reasons for the decision and for copies of any reports the insurer relied on.
If that does not resolve it, or you get no response in a reasonable time, take it to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. AFCA is free for consumers, and Moneysmart lists its number as 1800 931 678.
The Financial Rights Legal Centre runs a free Insurance Law Service on 1300 663 464, Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm Sydney time. It is a community legal centre, independent of insurers.
Where homeowners go wrong with their insurer
- Asking too late. The week before you fly is not when you want to discover the policy needs changing.
- Asking a vague question. Am I covered if someone stays at my place invites a vague answer. Give dates and ask about specific scenarios.
- Accepting a verbal yes. Any answer worth having is worth having in an email.
- Assuming the platform provides cover. Sitterly does not provide insurance of any kind and is not a party to the arrangement between you and your sitter.
- Forgetting that policies change. Cover confirmed for one trip is not cover confirmed for the next one after a renewal.
The same question from the sitter's side
Your sitter has their own version of this conversation. They are the person who might break something, and they may be wondering whether they are personally exposed. Our companion article on insurance for house sitters covers personal liability, cover for their own belongings, and the gaps in between. The two positions rarely line up neatly, and the space between them is where a disagreement would land.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell my insurer that a house sitter is staying?
Whether you are required to depends on your policy, and only your insurer can tell you. Notify them in writing regardless. It takes a few minutes, it records what you disclosed and what you were told, and it removes an argument later.
Will my insurer treat a house sitter as a tenant?
That is the classification question to put to them directly, because insurers use their own definitions and those definitions sit in your Product Disclosure Statement rather than in tenancy law. Some policies distinguish a tenant, a paying guest and a non-paying occupant, and the cover can differ across the three. Ask which category a house sitter falls into on your policy, and get the answer in writing. Our guide to the house-sitting agreement covers the separate tenancy question and why the written page should not read like a lease.
Does home insurance cover damage caused by my own pets?
That depends entirely on your policy, and pet-caused damage is a common exclusion area worth asking about by name. It is a separate question from damage caused by your sitter, so ask about both.
What happens if my sitter is injured in my home?
Ask your insurer about the legal liability section of your policy, which generally deals with injury to other people on your property. Do not assume it responds to every situation. Describe the arrangement accurately and ask how the cover applies.
Where this leaves you
None of this is difficult. It is one call and one email, made a few weeks out, and for most homeowners the outcome will be that nothing changes. The value is in knowing rather than guessing, and in holding a written answer.
Once the insurance question is settled, the rest is practical. Our guide to getting your home and pets ready for a sitter covers the handover, the written instructions and the contacts to leave behind. If you are still weighing up whether a live-in arrangement suits your household, how Sitterly works explains it.
This article is general information only and is not insurance, financial or legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account. Always read your Product Disclosure Statement and Key Fact Sheet, and speak to your own insurer or a qualified adviser before making a decision.
