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Housesitting for friend. Should I pay bills of �90?
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A casual friend asked me to housesit for her whilst her house is being sold. She is now assuming I will pay her �90/mth to cover gas, electric, cable tv. Is this fair or am I just being tight?
Her house was empty & she had a couple of incidents of attempted break ins. She was worried & so asked if I could housesit. The house had been up for sale for months with no offers so she said I'd probably stay there for at least a couple more months so I gave up my room in a houseshare & moved in. I now have to pay an extra �100/mth in travelling expenses & it takes me an extra hour/day commuting. I don't like where I'm living but don't want to let my friend down. I was always going to offer to pay her something towards the gas/electric/cable (I don't use the phone) but I just feel a bit annoyed that she's said �90 which I think is too much for a single person who's at work all day. She's basing it on when her & her family lived there. I also had to put up with people coming to view the place & make sure the place is spotless at all times. Her house is now being sold so it might only be another month of living there.
Her house was empty & she had a couple of incidents of attempted break ins. She was worried & so asked if I could housesit. The house had been up for sale for months with no offers so she said I'd probably stay there for at least a couple more months so I gave up my room in a houseshare & moved in. I now have to pay an extra �100/mth in travelling expenses & it takes me an extra hour/day commuting. I don't like where I'm living but don't want to let my friend down. I was always going to offer to pay her something towards the gas/electric/cable (I don't use the phone) but I just feel a bit annoyed that she's said �90 which I think is too much for a single person who's at work all day. She's basing it on when her & her family lived there. I also had to put up with people coming to view the place & make sure the place is spotless at all times. Her house is now being sold so it might only be another month of living there.
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Personally, I think she's being unfair. You're being her house-sitter ie: doing her a favour - but paying her for the privilege. It's fine for you to make a contribution, but she has to remember that you've made a special effort to help her out and look after the place - plus it's costing you in time and money to do so. I'd try and reason with her and come to an agreement.
I agree with the others. When I house-sat for my out-laws (they took a tour of the world for 6 months, yeah nice !!), not only did they pay all the bills, they also paid for the cleaner and left me money for food etc (they also stocked up the freezer, the spirits cupboard and the wine cellar !). They put my name on their car insurance and I was instructed to drive it regularly !
Given I was in the middle of a divorce from their son, I thought this was exceedingly generous of them, and it was a huge favour to me to have somewhere to live whilst sorting out my personal affairs.
Given I was in the middle of a divorce from their son, I thought this was exceedingly generous of them, and it was a huge favour to me to have somewhere to live whilst sorting out my personal affairs.
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