House and Pet Sitter Instructions: What to Write Down So Nobody Has to Call
A handover a house or pet sitter can use without phoning you: the one page they read first, each pet, the house, what to do when something goes wrong, and the check before you leave.
The calls a sitter makes are rarely about emergencies. They are about the second key, which bin goes out on Tuesday, whether the cat is allowed outside, and where the stopcock is now that the kitchen floor is wet.
Every one of those is a question you could have answered before you left. A good handover is simply those answers, written in the order a sitter needs them, on as few pages as the job allows.
Read this first: one page, top of the pile
Put one page on top that a sitter can read standing in your hallway. It holds only what they need in the first hour:
- how to get in and lock up, and where the spare key is
- the alarm, if there is one, and what to do if it goes off
- each animal's name, and the one thing about each that matters most ("Bo must not have chicken", "Mia hides; she is fine")
- your phone number, and one local person who can come round
- the vet's number and address
Everything else can go on the pages behind it. If the sitter reads nothing else, this page should keep the house and the animals safe.
Before the detail, the starter this guide produced is free, with two fill-in pages plus one short guide/licence page — three pages in total. It is the shortest version of everything below.
Each pet: food, medicine, vet and habits
Write one section per animal. "Feed the dog" is not enough; amounts and times are what a stranger gets wrong.
- Food. What, how much, when, and where it is kept. Treats allowed and not allowed.
- Medicine. Name, dose, time, how you give it, and what to do if a dose is missed. Keep the packaging where the sitter can see it.
- Vet. Your usual vet, the out-of-hours vet, and whether the sitter may authorise treatment and up to what amount.
- Habits. Walks and routes, litter, where they sleep, what is normal for this animal and what would be a reason to worry.
The house: keys, bins, water and the things that only you know
- keys and locks, labelled, including windows and the shed
- bin and recycling days
- the stopcock, the fuse board and the boiler reset, with where each one is
- heating and hot water: what is normal, and what to leave alone
- plants, post, deliveries and anything that must not be let in or out
- Wi-Fi network name and password, if you want the sitter to use it
That last line is the only password on the page, and it is one you would give a guest anyway. Leave bank, email and account passwords out entirely. A handover sits on a kitchen counter for a week; nothing on it should be worth stealing.
If something goes wrong: who to call and what to spend
Decide this before you leave, because a sitter at 11 p.m. will not want to decide it alone.
- who to call first, second and third, with numbers, including a neighbour or friend who has a key
- a plumber, an electrician and a locksmith you would accept
- how much the sitter may spend without asking you, and how you will repay it
- what counts as "phone me whatever the time" and what can wait for a message
Before you leave: the ten-minute check
- walk the sitter through the house once with this page in hand
- show where the food, medicine, lead and carrier are
- test the keys in the locks
- leave your travel dates and when you will be reachable
- put the handover where you said it would be
If you would rather not start from a blank page
The pages above are free to copy. If you would rather fill in sheets that are already laid out:
- The free Household Handover Starter is three pages, by email: an instruction page and two working sheets for the household at a glance and emergency contacts.
- The Just-in-Case Family Records Binder is the longer version, written once and kept: household at a glance, emergency contacts, a pet care plan, and home and property. It deliberately does not ask for passwords. It is written for anyone who might have to take over the house, which includes a sitter, though sitting is not the only job it is built for.
- If the sitter is also looking after children, the Nanny Hiring and Family Binder includes an editable ten-page family binder in Word with pages for each child, a medication log, the house, the daily rhythm and pets.
Neither binder is a sitter-only pack, and this page does not pretend otherwise. If enough people come looking for one, we will make it.