House sitting Site Verification and Security
Photo ID verification adds an extra layer of protection.

The badge will display on your profile when one of the following completes.

  • Your Mobile / Cell Phone Number is verified (select Profile Edit on your dashboard)
  • Photo ID - Passport is verified (Load the Photo ID icon from your dashboard after login)
  • Photo ID - Drivers License is verified (Load the Photo ID icon from your dashboard after login)

You will receive 1 Point for each of the following

  • Verified Mobile / Cell Phone Number is verified
  • Verified Photo ID - Passport is verified
  • Verified Photo ID - Drivers License

Absolutely. Your documents are encrypted on upload and in storage. (Called encrypted at rest).

We delete your photo ID as soon as they are verified.

They are only used internaly for Identity Verification.

The use of Identity Documents is covered in our Privacy Policy

They must be images. The accepted image formats (file extensions) are .jpg , jpeg, png, bmp, gif

House sitting is a wonderful worldwide opportunity for home and pet owners and Housesitters. However homeowners want to be assured their home and pets are safe and in good hands. Verification gives the homeowner extra peace of mind and they are more likely to pick a House sitter who has had their Identify verified.

Unforunately we don't live in a safe world, but being a verified Housecarers sitters means we keep our community safe.

Many homeowners are asking Sitters directly to send ID. However this means exposing your documents in an non-secure way

Housecarers pioneered house sitting. We launched the World's first House sitting membership site way-back in October 2000. We have distilled 24 Years of customer feedback into refining and improving our secure matching process.

Register as a Home Owner or House Sitter to participate


USD$25.00   is required to activate your Premium Homeowner membership. 

  • Receive a Verified Member badge on your profile.
  • Personal recommendations on improving your profile, attracting and choosing the best applicants.
  • Add or Edit Your own Private notes to any House Sitters profile for reference.
  • On request we will access and load to your ad, Professional photos of scenic attractions in your vicinity to attract quality applicants.
  • On request, to attract more quality applications we will promote your confidential Housesitter required ad on our network of related social media sites. We forward applications to you for your consideration.
  • Participate in the Referral Rewards program.
  • Receive a bonus of 6 months of Membership when you take up House sitter paid membership.

    • Try Housesitting with free accommodation for a breakaway across your country, locally, or worldwide! Refer yourself and add six months to your premium HO membership AND receive six bonus months of Housesitter paid membership, Totalling 18 months.

  • Help keep More Pets in their familiar environment with their routines intact.
  • You will be contributing to the running and promotion of the Housecarers Community. We started the first worldwide Housesitting Membership established in October 2000. Your contribution will help us continue this work to help more people. We see ourselves as a community rather than a corporate site. We will never lose the personal touch. You are helping grow and improve this valuable worldwide community resource that is helping Homeowners Leave the responsibilities of homeownership for a well-earned break.
  • More benefits and features will be added with your funding and contribution to the Housecarers community.

Much of the revenue from Premium memberships are used to run, maintain, and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us match sitters with homeowners each year worldwide.

Search for House Sitter Results are ordered as follows

  • One third of search results are in random order so everyone has the same chance of appearing near the top
  • One third of search results are in join date order, rewarding long time supporters of the community
  • One third of search results are in Referral Point order, with the Referal Rewards Program. The more referral points the higher you appear in search results.

Search results are Cached for 1 hour by the system, to avoid performance response problems. This means search results will change every hour. Please bear in mind that you should include your desired locations on your profile, to appear in specific searches. Homeowners will normally perform Specific location Searches matching where they live. If they do not find sitters they may then perform a more general search for sitters who are flexible about locations.

Advantages of Photo ID Identification

First and foremost, photo ID verification provides an extra layer of security for both sitters and homeowners. In the case of a housesitter, photo ID verification allows homeowners to feel more confident that they are dealing with a legitimate person and that the sitter has good intentions.

For those homeowners with pets, having a verified housesitter can be especially important, as it provides peace of mind that the sitter won't harm their beloved furry friends.

Photo verification adds an extra layer of comfort for the homeowner in the selection process.

When we verify the identities of our members, we ensure our platform is used only by those who are truly interested in housesitting.

We do not charge for our secure verification process.

Keeping your information secure

When you upload a photo as part of your photo ID verification, we take precautions to ensure that your information remains safe and secure.

Your photo is encrypted while in transit to our servers, and once it arrives, it is stored securely using industry-standard encryption methods. We then verify your photo matches your house carers identity and you earn a verification badge on your profile. Your encrypted photo ID is deleted from our servers as soon as it is verified.

Housecarers additional Verification and Security functions

Photo ID verification works in tandem with our other verification facilities and safeguards

  • Reference and document upload
  • Police Clearance/ check Upload
  • Two-way verified reviews on completion of housesits
  • Verification of mobile / cell phone numbers by requiring entry of a text messaged code.
  • Verification of email by requiring members to confirm receipt of our 2nd step email.
  • Display of Member Since date.
  • Secure encryption of your password.
  • Use of Username (Nickname) for Login, rather than email that could have been used at other sites.
  • Housecarers Human verification that there is no identifiable information on your public profile.

Password Protection and recommendations

We encrypt passwords to protect your information and uploads. Salting means adding random characters to a password before it is hashed. This makes it much more difficult for hackers to crack the password, as there will be an impossibly high number of possible combinations.

Your password is encrypted and cannot be reversed (one-way hashing ), to reveal your original choice.

Your original plain text password choice cannot be sent to you. If you forget your password you can only reset it.

While both salting and one-way hashing are effective methods for encrypting passwords, it is important to choose a password management solution that will provide strong security while also being easy to use. Some popular solutions include LastPass, Dashlane, and 1Password. Always chose a unique password for each site you join. This prevents hackers from attempting logins at other sites if they happen to gain your information from an insecure site.