Home > Blog > Long-Term House Sitting
Quick Facts
| What counts as long-term | Generally one month or more; multi-month sits run three to six months |
| Where to find them | Worldwide: TrustedHouseSitters — Australia: Aussie House Sitters — NZ: Kiwi House Sitters — France: Nomador |
| How long they stay listed | Longer than short sits — homeowners take more time vetting for a multi-month commitment |
| Utilities | Should not be charged; any financial arrangement must be agreed in writing before confirming |
| Biggest practical challenge | Isolation — manageable with the right habits built in the first week |
| Best for | Remote workers, retirees, digital nomads, anyone wanting slow travel over fast travel |
Long-term house sitting is a fundamentally different proposition to a two-week sit. It is not an extended holiday. It is a temporary relocation. The approach to finding sits, vetting homeowners, managing daily life, and negotiating terms all require more care than a short stay. Done well, it is one of the most cost-effective and immersive ways to live abroad for months at a time.
We are currently preparing for a six-month sit in Portugal caring for one cat and four chickens. The accommodation cost is zero. This guide covers how to find sits like this and how to make them work once you do.
Why Long-Term Sits Are Worth Pursuing
The case for staying in one place for months rather than weeks is partly financial and partly practical. The benefits of house sitting compound dramatically over a longer sit. A two-week sit saves two weeks of accommodation. A three-month sit saves three months, plus the grocery savings from cooking in a full kitchen rather than eating out, plus avoided hotel taxes, plus the cost of not needing to move every fortnight.
On the practical side, long-term sits give you something short sits cannot: enough time to actually understand a place. Long enough to find the good market, learn which routes to take, build a routine, and stop feeling like a tourist. For remote workers and digital nomads, a three-month sit in one location with a reliable desk and wifi is worth far more than three weeks scattered across three different sits.
There is also the lifestyle experiment dimension. Thinking of moving to Portugal? A six-month sit gets you the grocery prices, the bureaucracy, the weather across multiple seasons, and the social reality, all while living in a furnished home at no cost. If it does not suit you, you leave when the sit ends with no lease to break. This is one of the most underused aspects of long-term house sitting: using it as a low-risk test of a potential permanent move.
Which Platform to Use for Long-Term Sits
The single most important factor in choosing a platform for long-term sits is listing volume. More total listings means more long-term listings. It also means more pet-free sits, more niche sits, and more flexibility to be selective about what you apply for. A platform with 50 listings in your target country may have one or two long-term sits at any given time. A platform with 500 listings in the same country will have substantially more, and they will rotate in more frequently.
Our recommendation is always to go where the listings are highest for your target region:
Worldwide: TrustedHouseSitters is the platform we recommend for long-term sitting in most of the world. It has the largest global listing count of any house sitting platform by a significant margin. More total listings means more long-term listings. For sits across Europe (outside France), the US, Canada, the UK, and most of Asia and Latin America, THS is where the volume is. Use our 25% discount to join.
Australia: Aussie House Sitters has more Australian listings than THS and is the dominant platform for sits across the country including long-term rural and regional sits. Mindahome AU is worth adding as a secondary platform for Australian coverage.
New Zealand: Kiwi House Sitters has the most New Zealand listings and is the natural first stop for long-term sits there, including the extended rural sits that appear frequently on the South Island.
France and French-speaking regions: Nomador has more French listings than any other platform. THS has strong global coverage but relatively few French listings compared to Nomador's concentrated French community. For long-term sits in France, Belgium, Quebec, and French-speaking Switzerland, Nomador is the primary platform.
The logic is consistent regardless of region: find the platform with the most listings in your target area and that is where you will find the most long-term sits. Our house sitting sites guide has the full listing counts by platform and country so you can check which platform dominates your specific destination.
How to Find Long-Term Sits on the Platforms
Most sitters never find multi-month sits because they search the same way they would search for a weekend stay. The single most effective change is using the duration filter and dragging it past two weeks.
On TrustedHouseSitters, you can filter sits by duration. Long-term listings stay on the platform significantly longer than short sits. A homeowner leaving for six months takes considerably more time selecting a sitter than someone leaving for two weeks. That slower vetting process works in your favour: you have more time to find the listing, craft a thorough application, and go through a proper video call before anyone else confirms.
Set up alerts for your target regions. THS Premium members can set location alerts that send a notification as soon as a new sit is posted in a searched area. Turning this on means you hear about relevant listings within hours rather than discovering them days later when the best applications have already been submitted.
The Utility Charge Warning
This is the most important financial boundary in long-term sitting and the one most likely to arise as a sit gets longer.
The standard house sitting exchange is care for accommodation. No money changes hands. For stays of a month or more, some homeowners start to consider asking sitters to contribute to utilities: electricity, heating, internet, water. This is not standard practice and you are not obligated to accept it.
I learned this the hard way. I arranged a five-month solo sit in Montanel, France. One week before I was due to arrive, the homeowner told me they expected €500 per month for utilities and use of the car. I had already committed to the sit and had no practical alternative, so I paid it. But it fundamentally changed the dynamic. Once money is exchanging hands, the relationship shifts from mutual exchange toward a tenant-landlord arrangement, with all the complications that brings.
Any financial arrangement whatsoever must be agreed in writing before you confirm the sit. If a homeowner raises costs after confirmation, that is a significant warning about how they approach agreements generally. Our guide on dealing with exploitative homeowners covers how to handle these situations.
Spotting Unpaid Labour Disguised as a Sit
Long-term listings occasionally describe responsibilities that cross the line from house sitting into employment. A checklist that includes mowing the lawn, watering plants, and caring for a dog is house sitting. A checklist that includes renovating a bathroom, managing tradespeople, painting outbuildings, or maintaining a commercial garden is not.
The test is simple: if the tasks described would require paid labour and fill a meaningful portion of a working week, the listing is looking for free staff. The legal framework of a house sitting exchange is a private domestic arrangement, not employment. Tasks far beyond reasonable home and pet maintenance place both parties in ambiguous territory.
Read listings carefully before applying. If the responsibilities seem extensive, ask directly on the video call: "Can you describe what a typical day of responsibilities looks like?" The answer will tell you quickly whether expectations are reasonable.
The Video Call Is Non-Negotiable for Long-Term Sits
For a two-week sit, a video call is standard good practice. For a three-month sit, it is non-negotiable.
You are agreeing to live in someone's home for months. They are agreeing to leave their home and pets in your care for months. Both parties deserve enough of a conversation to establish trust, clarify expectations, and identify anything that might not work before either side commits. Our video call guide covers what to ask and what to listen for.
For long-term international sits where a trial weekend is not logistically possible, the call carries even more weight. Be thorough. Ask about the animals' specific routines, any quirks in the property, the homeowner's communication preferences during the sit, and what contingency exists if something goes wrong.
Wifi: Verify Before You Commit
For any sitter planning to work remotely during a long sit, taking the homeowner's word on wifi quality is not sufficient. "Good wifi" to someone who uses it for streaming means something entirely different to a sitter running video calls and uploading large files.
Ask the homeowner to run a speed test at speedtest.net and send you a screenshot of the result. This takes two minutes and produces an objective number. For reliable video call work, you need at least 25Mbps download and 10Mbps upload. If the homeowner cannot or will not provide a speed test result, factor that uncertainty into your decision.
Also ask whether the router can be rebooted if it drops, whether there is mobile data coverage in the area as a backup, and whether any parts of the property have significantly weaker signal than others.
Building a Life During a Long Sit
Isolation is the most underestimated challenge of long-term sitting, particularly for solo sitters. A two-week sit in a new city is an adventure. Month three of a solo sit in a rural location can feel very different.
The antidote is intentional community-building rather than waiting to meet people naturally. Joining a local gym immediately gives you daily human contact and a reason to leave the house regardless of what else is happening. Language exchange meetups, regular cafes where you become a recognisable face, and apps like Meetup for finding local events all help build social infrastructure early. Build these habits in the first week rather than realising after six weeks that your routine has become entirely solitary.
For sits with pets, the animals themselves provide structure that longer stays without pets do not. A dog who needs three walks a day forces you out of the house and into the neighbourhood, which naturally produces more encounters than staying indoors. Our guide on what house sitters actually do covers the daily rhythm in more detail.
House sitting as a couple changes the isolation equation significantly. Having someone to share the experience with makes long sits more sustainable, though it introduces its own dynamics around shared space and differing routines.
Build Up to Long Sits Gradually
The most common mistake new sitters make is going too long too soon. A first sit of six months is a significant commitment before you have experienced what sitting actually feels like on a daily basis.
Starting with sits of two weeks, then a month, then two or three months lets you calibrate what you can handle before committing to something longer. You learn what you enjoy, which types of animals and properties suit your lifestyle, and how you manage being in someone else's space for extended periods. Building this experience also produces the review history that makes longer sits achievable. A homeowner considering handing their property over for six months wants to see evidence of several completed sits with strong reviews. Our getting started guide covers how to build that profile from scratch.
Packing and Practicalities
A long sit requires packing for a stay rather than a holiday. Enough clothing to rotate through without constant laundry, any specialist work equipment you need, and comfort items you cannot easily source abroad. Asking about the property's workspace setup, kitchen equipment, and bedding quality before you commit saves a lot of adjustment once you arrive.
For international sits, confirm the visa situation for your specific nationality well in advance. A three-month sit in the Schengen Area uses your 90-day allowance under the 90/180 rule. A six-month sit requires a long-stay visa in most countries. ETIAS authorisation is also required from 2026 for visa-exempt nationalities entering Europe. Our Europe guide covers the specifics, and our customs guide covers what to say at the border.
Conclusion
Long-term house sitting is the most effective version of the exchange model for anyone with the flexibility to use it. The financial case is clear: months of free accommodation in a furnished home, savings that dwarf anything short stays produce, and the lifestyle advantage of actually living somewhere rather than passing through it.
The sits exist. Our upcoming six-month Portugal listing is not exceptional. Multi-month opportunities appear on TrustedHouseSitters regularly for sitters who know how to look. Use the duration filter, set alerts, build your review history with shorter sits first, confirm every financial term before you accept, and take the video call seriously.
Use our 25% discount on TrustedHouseSitters to get started or renew before committing to a long search.
DM us @housesittersguide on Instagram if you have questions about finding or preparing for a long-term sit. We answer everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is considered a long-term house sit?
Generally one month or more, with multi-month sits typically running three to six months. Anything under four weeks tends to follow the same logic as a standard sit. Beyond a month, the planning, vetting, and lifestyle management change enough to warrant a different approach. Sits of three to six months exist on all major platforms and are most common on TrustedHouseSitters.
Should I contribute to utilities during a long-term sit?
No. The standard exchange is care for accommodation with no money changing hands. Any financial arrangement must be agreed in writing before you confirm the sit. If a homeowner raises costs after confirmation, that is a red flag about how they approach agreements. Some homeowners do request utility contributions for very long stays, but it is not standard and you are not obligated to accept it.
How do I find long-term sits on TrustedHouseSitters?
Use the duration filter set to one month or more, and set location alerts so you are notified as soon as a relevant listing appears. Long-term listings stay on the platform longer than short sits because homeowners take more time selecting a sitter. Apply early with a thorough application that addresses the specific sit rather than a generic message.
Is it possible to work remotely during a long-term house sit?
Yes, and long-term sits are often better for remote work than short ones because you have a settled routine. Always verify wifi speed before committing. Ask for a speedtest.net screenshot showing download and upload speeds. For reliable video calls, you need at least 25Mbps download and 10Mbps upload. Check the workspace setup too.
How do I handle isolation during a long solo sit?
Build social infrastructure intentionally in the first week. Join a local gym immediately for daily human contact. Find a regular cafe. Use Meetup or language exchange groups to meet people. Do not wait to meet people organically. In a city where you know nobody, that can take months. Build the habits early.
Do I need a visa for a long-term house sit abroad?
Yes, for most long international sits. A three-month sit in the Schengen Area uses your 90-day allowance. A six-month sit requires a long-stay visa in most countries. ETIAS authorisation applies from 2026 for visa-exempt nationalities entering Europe. Research requirements for your specific passport and destination well before committing to the sit.
