Home > Blog > What to Do If the Home Is Filthy When You Arrive
Quick Facts
| Slightly messy | Handle it yourself — an hour of cleaning and you are comfortable for the whole sit |
| Genuinely filthy | Contact the homeowner, document everything, consider contacting the platform |
| Walkthrough video | Do it on arrival — it protects you from cleanliness complaints later |
| Review | Be accurate — mark down cleanliness if warranted, even if everything else was great |
| The tell in listings | Homes with lots of pet photos and views but few interior shots often hide untidy spaces |
| Our record | 17 sits, all five-star reviews on cleanliness — we leave every home at least as clean as we found it |
Arriving at a house sit and finding the home is not what the photos suggested is more common than most sitters want to admit. The THS community has multiple active threads on the subject: homeowners arrive home to dirty sitters, sitters arrive to dirty homes, and both sides sometimes end up with reviews they feel were unfair.
This article is about the sitter's side: what to do when you arrive and the home falls short of what the photos suggested, what your rights are when it is truly unacceptable, and how to protect yourself with documentation so that a homeowner's mess does not end up reflected in your own review.
The Spectrum: Messy vs Filthy
There is a meaningful difference between a home that is slightly lived-in and one that is truly dirty, and the response to each is different.
Slightly messy (crumbs on the table, floors not swept, dishes in the sink) is manageable. Most people's homes look like this on a busy week. It does not reflect disrespect and it does not require a platform complaint. It requires an hour of cleaning and then you get on with the sit.
Genuinely filthy is a different situation. The THS community forum has described sits where the bathroom was coated in mould, bins were overflowing, bedsheets were visibly soiled, pets had clearly not been looked after properly before the handover, and the garden was strewn with rubbish and animal waste. These are not different standards of tidiness. These are conditions that affect your health and comfort, signal something about how the homeowner treats the arrangement, and warrant a response beyond a quiet sweep and wipe-down.
The line between the two is personal to some extent, but a useful test is this: if you could not live comfortably in the space without addressing it first, and the work required takes more than an hour or two, the home was not left in a reasonable condition.
Our Experience: Kefalonia
When we arrived at our two-week sit in Kefalonia, the home was not the tidiest. The floors had not been swept, the table had crumbs on it, and a few things were out of place. It was slightly messy, not filthy. Manageable.
We decided not to say anything to the homeowner. We did a quick sweep, wiped the surfaces, tidied up, and an hour later we were comfortable. For the next two weeks we enjoyed the home, explored the island, and even experienced a tropical cyclone from the safety of a solid house rather than in our campervan. The experience was wonderful overall, and the slight mess at the start did not diminish that.
What we did do was mark the cleanliness accurately in our review. Five stars overall, but the cleanliness score reflected what we found. That is the honest approach and the one that helps other sitters make informed decisions.
One small tell from that sit: during the handover conversation, the homeowner mentioned that we would be handing the house over to another sitter after us, and commented "I hope our cleaning standards are not too high." In retrospect that was a clue. It was not a warning we took seriously at the time, but the homeowner was implicitly acknowledging something about the gap between their standards and ours. It is worth listening for phrases like that.
Reading the Listing Before You Arrive
The listing photographs are a reliable signal. People who are proud of their homes take photos that show their homes. Wide shots of bright, tidy rooms, close-ups of clean kitchens, well-made beds: these tell you something about what the homeowner values and how they present their space.
Both of the sits we have found slightly dirtier than expected had listings dominated by photos of the pets and outdoor views, with very few interior shots. That pattern has held consistently across our sits. It does not guarantee a messy home, but it is worth noticing during the application stage.
During the video call, if the homeowner does a walkthrough of the home on camera, pay attention. A tidy, well-organised background in a video call is usually accurate. If the visible background is cluttered or there is reluctance to show parts of the property, that is useful information.
The Arrival Walkthrough: Your Protection
The walkthrough video we recommend in our damaging property guide is equally important for cleanliness. When you arrive at a sit, before you clean anything, walk through the home slowly with your phone filming. Show every room, every surface you will be using, every visible area of mess or dirt.
Send it to yourself immediately in a private WhatsApp group or save it somewhere with a timestamp. This video serves two purposes:
First, it protects you from cleanliness complaints in the review. A homeowner who marks you down for cleaning despite the fact that you left the home in better condition than you found it cannot sustain that claim if you have timestamped before footage showing the state of the home when you arrived. This exact scenario comes up repeatedly in the THS community: sitters who arrived to dirty homes, cleaned thoroughly, and still received poor cleanliness scores.
Second, it is a useful reference for where things were when you arrived, so you can put the home back in its original state at the end of the sit without any ambiguity.
Never clean first and film second. That defeats the purpose entirely.
What to Do When It Is Genuinely Unacceptable
If the home crosses from "manageable mess" into truly filthy conditions, there is a process that protects you while giving the homeowner a fair chance to respond.
Film everything immediately on arrival. Do not clean anything first. Capture every area that concerns you.
Contact the homeowner directly with specifics. Keep it factual and calm: "We have just arrived and wanted to let you know that the bathroom and kitchen are in a condition we were not expecting. We want to make sure we understand what you need from us and what you are able to do to help us get the home to a comfortable living standard." A message through the platform or WhatsApp keeps everything in writing.
Most homeowners, when made aware, will apologise and either offer to arrange a cleaner before they leave for their destination, make a contribution toward cleaning supplies, or acknowledge the situation and leave it to you with gratitude. Reasonable people respond reasonably.
If the homeowner is dismissive or the situation is bad enough to affect your health or safety (mould, pest evidence, hygiene issues) please contact the platform's Membership Services. Document the state of the home in writing on the platform, not just through WhatsApp. This creates a record that can support your review and any formal complaint if it comes to that.
If the conditions are so poor that you cannot reasonably stay, you have grounds to end the sit early. Most major house sitting platforms consider the home being left in an unacceptable condition a legitimate reason for early departure. Contact the platform before leaving so your decision is documented and not treated as an unexplained abandonment.
The Review Question
Be accurate in your review. A homeowner who left their home in poor condition should have that reflected in the cleanliness score, even if everything else about the sit was truly good.
This is not vindictive. It is the information the next sitter needs to make an informed decision. The THS community discussion on this is clear: sitters who are too generous on cleanliness reviews because they do not want conflict are making things harder for other sitters who come after them.
At the same time, keep the tone of the written review constructive. "The home required some cleaning on arrival but the location and pets were wonderful" is honest, fair, and useful. "This person is a slob" is neither.
If you left the home cleaner than you found it and still received a low cleanliness score, respond to the review factually. State what you found on arrival and what you left. Keep emotion out of it. Future homeowners reading your profile will see the context and draw their own conclusions.
Our Standards and Why We Have Them
Caro and I have high cleaning standards and we leave every home at least as clean as we found it, usually cleaner. This is not performative. It comes from a genuine sense of respect for the space and the exchange.
When I ran a hostel business in Iceland, I handled the cleaning myself. Ten-star cleanliness scores on Booking.com became a point of pride. That experience taught me that cleaning done well is not complicated. It is consistent, it is attentive, and it is honest about what needs doing. We bring that same approach to every sit.
The result is that in 17 sits across 11 countries, we have never had a cleanliness complaint. We have marked homeowners down on cleanliness when warranted, but we have never been on the receiving end of that rating ourselves.
The principle underneath this is simple: if a homeowner could not make the effort to tidy their home for your arrival, it suggests they see themselves as doing you a favour rather than participating in a mutual exchange. That attitude tends to show up elsewhere in the sit as well. A slight mess at arrival is forgivable. A pattern of dismissiveness is a different thing.
Conclusion
Arriving at a messy house is not the end of the world. An hour of cleaning, a walkthrough video as evidence, and a wonderful two weeks on a Greek island still awaits you. What matters is how you handle the situation: doing your own quick clean when it is minor, communicating directly when it is serious, documenting everything from the moment you arrive, and reviewing accurately so other sitters have the information they need.
Join TrustedHouseSitters with our 25% discount and read our guide to handling a negative review if you are dealing with an unfair cleanliness score. DM us @housesittersguide with questions about a specific situation. We answer everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to clean a dirty house when I arrive at a sit?
There is no obligation to deep-clean a homeowner's mess, but a light tidy is often the practical choice. If the home is slightly untidy, an hour of cleaning makes the space comfortable and the rest of the sit is unaffected. If the home is truly filthy, contact the homeowner and the platform before doing anything. Our house sitting cleaning etiquette guide covers what is and is not reasonable to expect from both sides.
What should I do if the home is too dirty to stay in?
Film everything immediately, contact the homeowner in writing with specifics, and escalate to the platform if needed. If conditions truly affect your health or safety, you have grounds to end the sit early. Contact the platform before leaving so the situation is documented.
How do I protect myself from a bad cleanliness review if I arrived to a messy house?
Film a walkthrough video before you clean anything and timestamp it. This is your evidence that the home's condition on arrival was not your doing. Send it to yourself immediately. If a homeowner gives you a low cleanliness score, you can respond to the review factually with reference to the state of the home when you arrived.
Should I mention a dirty home in my review?
Yes, accurately. Mark the cleanliness score to reflect what you found. Other sitters need that information. Keep the written review factual and constructive rather than personal. A sitter who had the same experience two sits later will be grateful you were honest.
