No Australian house sitting platform will find you a replacement sitter or compensate you when one cancels, so the hour after the message arrives is yours to run: get the cancellation confirmed in writing, republish your listing, then go back to the people you shortlisted and did not choose. If you are the sitter who has just lost accommodation, the order is the same with one change at the front. Book a bed for two nights before you look for another sit, because somewhere to sleep is what lets you make a good decision instead of a fast one.
The terms already say nobody owes you a replacement
Each Australian exchange platform answers this in its terms rather than on the page selling you a membership. These were read on 22 August 2026, and only platforms whose terms could be read directly are listed.
| Platform | Model | What its terms or published policy say | What that leaves you with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aussie House Sitters | Exchange, both sides pay | The platform "will have no liability or obligation to you if a Sitter cancels", and names cancelled travel costs among what it does not cover | Nothing, said plainly in the Terms rather than on the pages selling membership |
| TrustedHousesitters | Exchange, membership | Cancellation cover sits on the top annual Pet Parent tier at A$239. Its Money Back Promise refunds membership only if you receive no applications within 14 days | Cover only on the top tier, otherwise a refund in one narrow case |
| Mindahome | Exchange, sitters pay | Its Terms describe the service as providing a means for people to contact each other. Membership is non-refundable, "no exceptions" | Nothing, and no refund of what you paid to join |
| Sitterly | Exchange, no money for the sit | Sitterly supports the connection. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for their own arrangements | No replacement and no compensation, and no fee or deposit to chase |
Mad Paws, Pawshake and PetCloud sit on the paid side, where a cancellation is a refund question, because services you pay for carry consumer guarantees including due care and skill, a point Consumer Protection WA also makes in its house sitting guidance. Their own schemes are narrower than the marketing: Mad Paws' Guarantee page states in capitals that it is not insurance and imposes a $350 minimum contribution, while two other live pages on that site describe insurance, and Pawshake caps its aggregate liability at US$100.
What Sitterly does is narrower. Your listing goes back in front of sitters within minutes, your message history and saved sitters are a ready-made shortlist, and the Report function is how a pattern gets on the record. Reviews only unlock once a booking reaches completed status, so a sit that never happened cannot be reviewed.
If you are the homeowner and you fly out on Friday
The first hour, in this order
- Confirm it in writing. "I might not make it" is not a cancellation. Ask whether they are confirming they can no longer do these dates. That reply stays in your Sitterly inbox, which is what an admin sees if you report the profile later.
- Republish your listing before anything else. It is the only step that keeps working while you sleep. Check the dates, make sure the status reads published rather than draft, and say in the first line that you had a cancellation. It then sits with every other home sitters are browsing.
- Go back to everyone you shortlisted. They know your suburb, your animals and your dates. Message them individually. If that list is thin, search sitter profiles and filter for police check verified. The reply rating comes from how quickly someone answers, so start with the fast repliers.
- Tell your vet clinic and one neighbour. Clinics know the local options and some board patients themselves. A neighbour who hears on Monday beats one you ask at 6am on Thursday.
Judge the notice, not the cancellation
Sitters cancel for the reasons anyone cancels: illness, a family emergency, a roster change, a car that died on the Hume. Someone who tells you three weeks out has done the right thing, and treating them badly makes it less likely the next one tells you early. Sitterly's Sitter Agreement says late cancellations may lead to a warning or suspension and repeated ones to removal. No notice at all is what the Report function is for.
If nobody can come, compare the fallbacks properly
None of these is a failure. Judge them against your animal, not against the sit you had planned.
| Option | Realistic at two days' notice | What it needs | Where it falls down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boarding kennel or cattery | Sometimes, outside peak weeks | Vaccinations, worming and parasite control up to date | Books out from late November through January and in school holidays |
| Vet clinic boarding | Sometimes | The same records plus a written medication list | Few spaces, clinical setting, hard on a long stay |
| A paid carer who hosts pets at their own home | Sometimes | Arranged off Sitterly, which covers live-in stays only | Trusting a home you have not seen |
| A friend, neighbour or family member | Usually | A care sheet, your vet's details and a spending limit | Fine for four days, poor for three weeks |
| Changing your own travel | Always | Change fees on flights and accommodation | Costs money and leave, and is sometimes still right |
The RSPCA suggests visiting a facility in person to judge space, hygiene, temperature control, airflow and levels of care. At two days' notice you will ask by phone, so look properly at drop-off instead. Vaccination is the usual sticking point: if your dog has had core vaccines only, kennel cough cover may be missing, and the RSPCA notes the C5 vaccine can be given separately when a dog needs boarding at short notice.
If a friend steps in, write the instructions down anyway. Whoever has care of an animal generally carries a duty of care, and in Queensland a person in charge includes anyone who has custody, care or control of it. Each state and territory has its own animal welfare law. Sitterly covers live-in stays only, not dog walking, drop-in visits, daycare or boarding at a sitter's home, so those are arranged elsewhere.
Urgency is what scams need
If someone offers to take the sit but wants a deposit or a holding fee before you have met, stop there. No money changes hands for a Sitterly sit, so any request to pay is a reason to end the conversation and report the profile.
Scamwatch lists unusual payment methods and paying before you have inspected anything among the signs of buying and selling scams. Time pressure is what makes those requests feel reasonable.
If you are the sitter and you have nowhere to sleep on Friday
For a homeowner a cancellation costs money and sleep. For a full-time sitter it removes the roof, usually in a town where nobody knows you, with the fuel or the airfare that got you there already spent.
Book two nights before you look for another sit
A bed you have already secured changes what you can negotiate. Without one you will accept the first sit that answers, in the wrong suburb, with duties you have not read properly, because the alternative is a car park. Book something cheap and short, then search from a position where you can say no.
| Option | Bookable the same day | Works best when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caravan park cabin | Usually, outside peak weeks | You have a vehicle and are outside a capital city | Peak-season pricing over Christmas and school holidays |
| Hostel or budget motel | Usually | You are in or near Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth | Costs mount fast beyond a few nights |
| Your own van, caravan or tent | Usually | You already travel that way | National park campgrounds book out in peak weeks |
| Family or friends | Sometimes | You are still in your home state | Ask early rather than at 9pm |
| A homeowner you have sat for before | Sometimes | You left on good terms and the timing suits | Ask, never assume |
If a few nights turns into something larger and money is short, Ask Izzy, run by the not-for-profit Infoxchange, lists housing, financial and food support services by location across Australia.
Then reopen the search, wider than last time
Increase your radius, because a fortnight is worth more travel than a weekend, and put every scrap of flexibility in the message: an earlier arrival, a later handover, a spare night at either end. Then work the listings again. Australian travel clusters around school holidays and Christmas, so a cancellation in February leaves a thinner board than the same one in December.
The money you have already spent
There is nothing to refund, because nothing was paid. That cuts both ways: no commission, and no compensation. Aussie House Sitters' Terms name cancelled travel costs among what its platform does not cover, and no exchange platform we could read offers anything different. Consumer guarantees apply where you paid a business, not where two people made a private arrangement. Whether a travel policy responds to a cancelled private booking is a question for that policy, and Moneysmart's travel insurance guidance is blunt about reading the product disclosure statement. That is general information, not advice.
Never let one confirmed sit be your only plan for a leg
This is the version that bites van and caravan travellers. Commit to driving Ceduna to Esperance for a sit and you cross the Nullarbor on the strength of one message, so know the park you would stop at instead. The same holds without a vehicle: a sit three weeks out in another state is not accommodation until you walk in, so do not hand back a lease on the strength of it.
When it collapses mid-sit rather than before it
If the sitter falls ill or has an emergency
Tell the homeowner immediately. Do not carry on while genuinely unwell and do not simply leave. Often the honest answer is that you can feed the dog and let it out but cannot walk it, which is workable for two days if the owner knows. If you cannot stay at all, hand over to the backup contact and stay until someone takes over wherever possible. Document it in the platform's messages as it happens.
The backup plan the homeowner should have written before leaving
- A named local contact with a phone number who agreed in advance, and where the spare key is.
- A boarding facility or a vet that boards, with its number.
- Written authority for the sitter or contact to arrange emergency veterinary care, and up to what amount.
- Who to call if you are unreachable, for example on a long flight.
The RSPCA recommends keeping vaccination certificates, veterinary records and the numbers for your vet and an alternative animal accommodation facility together as a pet emergency plan. Check your microchip details through PetAddress at the same time.
If the homeowner comes home early
It looks harmless from the owner's side. From the sitter's it is serious, because in a non-monetary arrangement the accommodation was the whole of what they received, and someone who arranged three weeks and gets nine days may have nowhere to go. Tell them as soon as you know, not on the day, and be flexible about the changeover.
Agree this before the sit, not during it
One line handles it. If the homeowner returns early, the sitter may stay up to two further nights if needed. It takes seconds to agree beforehand and prevents an unpleasant conversation later.
If the arrangement simply is not working
Raise it once, calmly, in writing through the platform's messages. Many of these are fixable, because homeowners often do not realise the animals are more demanding than the listing described. If it cannot be resolved, end it properly: give notice, agree a handover, make sure the animals are cared for until someone takes over, and keep the record factual.
Whether a live-in sitter acquires any occupancy or tenancy right under your state or territory's residential tenancy law is outside what this article covers. It is a legal question and it varies by jurisdiction, so put it to your state or territory consumer affairs or fair trading agency, or to your own solicitor.
What Sitterly can and cannot do
Sitterly provides direct messaging, optional email, ID and police check verification that members request themselves, and a Report function. Sitterly is not a party to your arrangement, does not supervise sits, does not mediate disputes and does not find or fund a replacement sitter.
Making the next one less likely to collapse
- Confirm earlier and keep two people warm. Tell the others honestly, and ask whether they would take a message if plans changed.
- Put the notice period in writing. An agreement cannot stop anyone cancelling, but it makes reasonable notice and early endings explicit, and our walkthrough of a house sitting agreement covers the clauses.
- Meet before you confirm, in the home, with the animals there. Watch for replies that slow once dates come up, a meet and greet rescheduled twice, or someone holding several sits for the same dates.
- Know who wears what if something breaks. What a house sitter is liable for and what happens when a pet sit goes wrong cover the rest, and how Sitterly works sets out where the platform stops.
Common questions
- Can I get compensation if my house sitter cancels?
- Not through Sitterly. A sit here is a non-monetary exchange, so there is no fee, deposit or commission to refund, and Sitterly does not compensate homeowners or find a replacement. Aussie House Sitters and Mindahome disclaim it in their terms too, read 22 August 2026. If you paid a pet care business that failed to deliver, consumer guarantees may apply instead.
- What if my sitter cancels while I am already overseas?
- Same order, faster. Confirm in writing, republish, message your shortlist, then ring your neighbour and your vet clinic. Whoever holds your spare key is the bottleneck, because boarding only helps if someone can collect your animal.
- Can I leave a review for a sitter who cancelled?
- No. Reviews only open once a booking reaches completed status, in both directions, so a sit that never happened cannot be reviewed. Use the Report function instead.
- I am the sitter and the homeowner cancelled two days out. What can I ask for?
- Ask for it in writing, and ask whether they know anyone locally needing a sitter for those dates. Beyond that there is no financial remedy on any exchange platform, because no money was ever held. Book a bed first, then search.
Start looking now, not tonight
Republish your listing from your Sitterly dashboard so it reappears among the homes sitters are browsing, then message the two people you shortlisted and did not choose. If that list is short, look for sitters in your area and filter for the badges that matter to you. Every hour your listing is live is an hour it is working. If you are the sitter, the same board of listings is where your next one is.
This article is general information only and is not legal, insurance or veterinary advice. Animal welfare law, consumer law and insurance terms differ between states, territories and policies. Competitor terms described here were read on 22 August 2026 and can change. Speak to your veterinarian, your insurer or your own adviser.
