Cleaning and routines · CR-09

House Sitter Instruction Sheet

A free printable house sitter instruction sheet — heating, alarm, bins, post, plants, pets, wifi, and who to call when something breaks.

Download Free · no sign-up

2 pages. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.

Print it and write on it

A4 58 kB US Letter 58 kB

Fill it in type and save

A4 119 kB US Letter 119 kB

The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.

What this sheet is for

Answer the sitter's questions before they are asked, on paper, while you are still in the house and can walk them round to the stopcock.

Who it is for

Anyone leaving a house with a sitter, a neighbour or a friend, and house sitters who would rather be handed a sheet than a monologue.

How to use it

Fill it in the week before you go, not on the morning you leave.
Walk the sitter round to the stopcock, the consumer unit and the alarm panel.
List the numbers of anyone who might need calling, and say what each looks after.
Leave it out where it will be seen, and take it back when you get home — it has your alarm code on it.

What is on the sheet

2 pages, in this order:

Page 1

Printed under the title: Everything a house sitter needs while you are away, written down before you go rather than texted at midnight from an airport.

Print it, fill it in, leave it out. Fill this in and leave it somewhere obvious — the kitchen table, not a drawer. Take it back when you return: by then it has your alarm code and your wifi password on it.

Write-on lines: Property · Away from · Back on · Sitter · Owner — mobile · Second contact

Getting in and locking up

Write-on lines: Keys — which door, and where · Key safe code · Doors and windows to check before bed

Alarm

Write-on lines: Panel — where · Code · How to set and unset · If it goes off — what to do and who to call

Heating and hot water

Write-on lines: Controls — where · Normal setting · Hot water

Bins, post and deliveries

Write-on lines: Collection day · Where the bins live · Which bin, which week · Post, parcels and anything expected

Page 2

Plants, garden and animals

Write-on lines: Plants — which, how often · Watered from · Pets — what, when, how much · Vet — name and number · Anything the animals must not get at

Wifi, TV and the things that annoy people

Write-on lines: Wifi network · Password · Router — where · Quirks — the door that sticks, the tap that drips

If something breaks

Write-on lines: Water stopcock · Consumer unit · Boiler isolation

Table, 11 rows: Trade or service · Name · Number · What they look after

Questions

Should I really write the alarm code and the wifi password on a sheet of paper?

That is your call, and it depends on who is sitting and where the sheet will be left. The sheet is designed to be taken back and destroyed when you return, which is why the codes sit in fields you can leave blank and tell the sitter in person instead.

What is the one thing people forget to write down?

Where the water turns off. It is the first line of the breakages section for that reason — a sitter who cannot find the stopcock during a leak is expensive.