You may be one of the many people investing in a second property for vacations. You may allow friends and family members to help with house sitting services, but there may be extensive periods when it is not in use. When you live too far away to keep a regular weekly check on it, what you need is a vacation home caretaker. Most areas have their share of unsavory characters that somehow find out when a property is not inhabited, and are happy to take advantage of that fact.
People who are available to provide house sitting services usually sign up with a vacation home services supplier. The supplier's representative can help by contacting potential candidates and then arranging for you to communicate with them. Before you get to the stage of interviewing candidates you should draft your terms and conditions.
You may feel uncomfortable about the thought of leaving a stranger in command of one of your most valuable possessions. However, if you use a reliable service and follow up on any candidate references and carry out a police check, it should help to put your mind at ease. All initial contact with the house sitter will be through the agency, by email or phone.
You can arrange to interview candidates once you are in receipt of their references and police check results. At this stage you should still be keeping your personal details and address private. It is advisable to hold interviews at the office of the vacation home services or some other convenient location.
The purpose of the interview is to ensure that the candidate will commit to and accept the terms and conditions you are setting. Your draft document is a useful prompt and helps to ensure you cover every item. The general prompts help to generate discussion and define the role you expect your vacation home caretaker to take on.
When you eventually meet a candidate you need to trust your instincts. If you are not certain about a candidate, you should not consider using them for the job. It always pays to remember that this person will be unsupervised in your home and with your precious possessions.
There is a potential for conflict, if the financial split for things such as phone bills, gas, electricity and water are not clear and you are using house sitting services. The details of who is responsible for what has to be spelled out in the contract. Remember to discuss how the communications links are to work between the vacation homes services provider and yourself.
People who are available to provide house sitting services usually sign up with a vacation home services supplier. The supplier's representative can help by contacting potential candidates and then arranging for you to communicate with them. Before you get to the stage of interviewing candidates you should draft your terms and conditions.
You may feel uncomfortable about the thought of leaving a stranger in command of one of your most valuable possessions. However, if you use a reliable service and follow up on any candidate references and carry out a police check, it should help to put your mind at ease. All initial contact with the house sitter will be through the agency, by email or phone.
You can arrange to interview candidates once you are in receipt of their references and police check results. At this stage you should still be keeping your personal details and address private. It is advisable to hold interviews at the office of the vacation home services or some other convenient location.
The purpose of the interview is to ensure that the candidate will commit to and accept the terms and conditions you are setting. Your draft document is a useful prompt and helps to ensure you cover every item. The general prompts help to generate discussion and define the role you expect your vacation home caretaker to take on.
When you eventually meet a candidate you need to trust your instincts. If you are not certain about a candidate, you should not consider using them for the job. It always pays to remember that this person will be unsupervised in your home and with your precious possessions.
There is a potential for conflict, if the financial split for things such as phone bills, gas, electricity and water are not clear and you are using house sitting services. The details of who is responsible for what has to be spelled out in the contract. Remember to discuss how the communications links are to work between the vacation homes services provider and yourself.
About the Author:
Mad Mics Mulch offers great prices on organic landscaping. Check out their website to learn more! (http://www.madmics.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment