House sitting in Australia is free in the sense that matters most: in a non-monetary house sit the sitter stays in the homeowner's home at no cost and cares for the pets and the property, the homeowner pays nothing for that care, and no fee passes in either direction. The accommodation is the whole of the exchange, which is why it is called an exchange rather than a job.
What is not free is everything arranged around that exchange. A separate paid market also operates in Australia using almost the same words, and telling the two apart is most of the answer.
A house sitter lives in your home while you are away, and no fee passes either way
House sitting is an arrangement where one person stays in another person's home for agreed dates, cares for the pets, and keeps the property occupied and running, receiving the accommodation instead of a fee. The pets stay in their own house on their own routine, with someone sleeping there at night. RSPCA Australia's guidance on planning for your pets if you are going away over the holidays raises having someone stay with the animals in their familiar environment as one of the options worth weighing.
The dates give it its shape. A sit might be ten days in Battery Point in Hobart, or six weeks on a property outside Dubbo in regional New South Wales. The work is whatever was agreed before anyone said yes, usually feeding, medication, exercise, litter and yard, bins and mail, and leaving the house as it was found. Our guide to what a house sitter is responsible for sets out the scope properly, including the extras that tend to arrive late.
Free means no fee for the care, not no cost at all
| Item | The homeowner | The sitter |
|---|---|---|
| The pet and house care itself | Pays no fee | Receives no fee |
| Accommodation for the agreed dates | Not applicable, it is their home | Free, and this is the exchange |
| Platform membership on Sitterly | Free, permanently | Free during the current growth phase, flat-fee subscription planned |
| Pet food, litter, treats and medication | Homeowner, left in the house with instructions | No cost |
| Veterinary treatment | Homeowner, within a limit agreed in writing beforehand | No cost |
| Electricity, gas, water and internet | Usually the homeowner | Usually no cost |
| The sitter's own groceries and travel | No cost | The sitter |
Sitterly takes no commission, because there is no booking value to take one from. On the other Australian exchange platforms the charge is mostly a membership rather than a commission on each booking. On 22 August 2026, across the three whose prices we could read directly at the source, homeowner-side membership pricing ran from free, through one-off lifetime fees of $35 and $49, up to A$239 a year, while sitter-side membership pricing ran from $69 and $89 for twelve months up to A$229 a year. Membership is not always the whole of it. On that date at least one of the three also charged a per-sit booking fee on its lower tiers, in an amount it did not publish. Our article on what actually changes hands in an Australian house sit has the platform-by-platform table, including the owner-side fees that several do not publish before checkout.
Australia runs two markets under one set of words
| Question | Non-monetary house sitting | Paid pet sitting |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays whom for the care | Nobody | The owner pays the sitter |
| Where the pet stays | In its own home, with the sitter living there | In its own home for visits or overnights, or at the sitter's home or a facility |
| What the sitter receives | Free accommodation for the agreed dates | A rate they set, less the platform's commission |
| How the platform earns | Membership, sometimes plus a per-sit fee, or nothing during a growth phase | A commission on each booking, taken from one or both sides |
| Australian Consumer Law service guarantees | Unresolved, the guidance addresses a business supplying the service, ask the ACCC | Apply where a business supplies the service |
Both are called pet sitting, pet minding or house sitting in Australia, more or less interchangeably. That is why one question in a Perth or Adelaide community thread draws an answer of nothing at all and an answer of a nightly rate, each person right about the market they had in mind. Work out which one you are in and the answer stops moving.
Sitterly runs only the left-hand column. Boarding, daycare, dog walking and drop-in visits are outside what we do, so if paid care is what you want, one of the paid platforms is the right place to look.
The sitter is not working for nothing, because the accommodation is the consideration
A week's accommodation in Coogee, Subiaco or Wynnum is worth something, and a sitter who picked the suburb and the dates values it accordingly. The trade only holds while the two sides stay proportionate, and experienced sitters weigh that before they reply. A demanding sit is not the problem. Advertising a demanding sit as an easy one is.
A sit comes together in three steps, and money enters none of them
- A homeowner posts their dates, their pets and an honest description of the work, and sitters read the open sits.
- The two message each other directly, then meet, usually a video call first and an in-person meet and greet before anything is confirmed. Our guide to finding a house sitter in Australia covers what to ask then.
- They write down what was agreed, the sitter arrives, and the pets carry on in their own home.
Free care is not guaranteed care, and that is worth saying plainly
Consumer Protection WA's page on house, pet or baby sitting services, last updated 21 November 2024, states that a business providing a house sitting or pet sitting service must meet the service guarantees under Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC sets out what those guarantees cover, including due care and skill and supply within a reasonable time. Both are written about a business supplying the service. Neither addresses how the guarantees apply to a non-monetary exchange, and that is a question for the ACCC or your state or territory consumer protection office rather than one this article can settle. This is general information rather than legal advice.
That page is worth reading for a second reason. It warns that many home insurance policies carry exclusions for deliberate damage and theft by people lawfully invited onto the property, sitters and their guests among them. That is a question for your own insurer and your product disclosure statement, and our guide to home insurance while a house sitter is in your home goes through it.
Sitterly is equally clear about its own limits. We do not vet, screen or approve members, we do not supervise sits, and we carry no insurance for either side. What we provide is email verification, an optional police check started by the member and reviewed by us, a filter so homeowners can narrow sitter profiles to those police checked, direct messaging, reviews once a booking is completed, suburb-level location privacy, and a report function.
“Sitterly supports the connection. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for getting to know each other, discussing expectations and deciding whether to proceed.”
- Sitterly, About page
Three questions this article does not answer
Whether a live-in sitter acquires any occupancy or tenancy status is a matter of state and territory residential tenancy law, and belongs with your fair trading or consumer affairs office. Visa questions for sitters arriving from overseas belong with the Department of Home Affairs. Whether a frequent or long-running arrangement has any tax consequence is one for the ATO or a registered tax agent, and nothing here is tax advice.
Common questions about whether house sitting is free
- Is house sitting free for the homeowner?
- The care itself costs nothing in a non-monetary sit. The homeowner still covers the pet's food, litter and medication, veterinary treatment up to a limit agreed in advance, and the household bills that would have been running anyway. Some Australian platforms also charge homeowners a membership. Sitterly does not, permanently.
- Is house sitting free for the sitter?
- The accommodation is free for the agreed dates. The sitter still pays for their own groceries and their own travel, and on most Australian platforms a sitter membership as well. Sitterly is free for sitters during the current growth phase, with a flat-fee subscription planned.
- Does house sitting mean free rent?
- It means free accommodation for a set period, which is not the same thing. The dates are fixed at the start, and the arrangement ends when the owner comes home.
The exchange is easier to judge once you have seen the mechanics rather than another definition of it. See how Sitterly works, including what we do and what we deliberately leave to you.
