House sitting is a really great way to not just see London, but truly experience it in a way many can only dream of - as a local. House sitting basically means free accommodation, so you'll be able to afford to stay in one of the most popular and expensive cities in the world for free. Additionally, with so many luxury house sitting London jobs available, you will be able to enjoy London the way it was supposed to be enjoyed - in bougie style. Put simply, house sitting London will enable you to travel to London both cheaply and luxuriously - how often do those two things go hand-in-hand? And it goes further than that, yes you will be able to see London as a tourist, but you'll also get the experience of living in London as a local, staying in a local's home, with home comforts like pets and washing machines. But why listen to me?
House Sitting in London or: How to Vacation in the UK for Free!
Hi, I'm Moon and I've been house sitting since I graduated in 2013. Although I'm originally from the UK, it took me many moons (pun intended) to house sit there, as I set my goals on house sitting in places like Australia, Italy and Thailand first. But after a few years of travelling this way, I got home sick and an idea occurred to me - why not house sit in my homeland and have the best of both worlds? I started off house sitting in the English countryside, but soon 'graduated' to house sitting in London - I started off with a two month house sit with a cat and the rest was history. Now I want to share all my house sitting London tips with you, because I had great experiences and want you to too.
Where to Find House Sitting London Jobs?
Getting a house sitting London assignment like I did is really easy, because there are so many London house sitting jobs that you're almost guaranteed to get a house sit - even if, unlike me, you are new to house sitting. But where can you find house sitting jobs in London? Trusted House Sitters is the biggest house sitting website out there. In my opinion it's also the best, because I found all of my house sitting opportunities through Trusted House Sitters and never needed to look elsewhere. I do have friends that found house sits through Facebook groups, but because THS is a professional website, there tends to be a lot fewer people backing out (both the home owners and house sitters) than on FB.
I signed up in 2013 and have continued to renew my membership every year since. I've done over 50 house sits with them, and had back-to-back sits in Australia and Europe through them. This includes three spectacular house sitting London gigs.
Trusted House Sitters Discount code!
Although each and every house sit is for free (free accommodation, free bills, free internet etc), there is a £100 Trusted House Sitters membership fee. This is for an entire year and potentially a year of house sits. You'd be lucky to find good accommodation in London for one night for £100, so even if you ended up just doing one house sit for one weekend, you'd already have your money back and then some. If you take it further, like me, and house sit all year round you would save thousands on rent or tens of thousands on hotels. To make things sweeter, we are happy to offer you a Trusted Housesitters discount code - simply click that link (and be sure to check out our house sitting blog post for full instructions on how to use the discount code).
Once you've signed up, make sure to fill in your profile as thoroughly as possible, and include nice photos of you, preferably with animals and without sunglasses (studies show sunglasses less people read more trustworthy). Once that's done start applying to house sits in London! If you need more advice on how to start house sitting check out this house sitting blog post: how to get started with house sitting. Oh and that membership? That's not just for London but the ENTIRE WORLD. Yes, the entire world of free accommodation for £100, not bad ey?
Luxury House Sitting London
House sitting and luxury travel often go hand in hand, simply because the fancier the house the more likely someone wants it looked after when they're away. But this is predominantly true in London. There are so many luxury house sitting London opportunities for you to do, you'll be spoilt for choice. From swanky apartments to actual mansions, anything is possible when house sitting London.
House Sitting London Short Term
Many people that live in London have high powered fancy jobs with not a lot of holiday time (or free time in general). This means many house sitting jobs in London are short term only. Think long weekend to weekly trips max. This is perfect for new house sitters, because you can see if you really enjoy house sitting without having to commit to a long term house sit. Additionally, with so many house sitting opportunities available in London, you're almost guaranteed to get multiple short term house sits in London. If you piece them together correctly, you should be able to see many different sides of London - something that most Londoners themselves can't claim they've done!
House Sitting London long term
But if you're looking for house sitting London long term, don't worry. Firstly, although they're not as common as house sitting London short term gigs, long term house sits do happen in London, keep an eye on house sitting opportunities for the latest and greatest long term house sits.
Secondly, with such an abundance of house sitting London jobs, in a pinch, what you can do is actually create your own house sitting London long term gig. By this I mean, you can put a number of house sitting London short term jobs together, and house sit back-to-back. House sit in Piccadilly for a weekend, move over to Oxford Street for 8 days, skip over to Balham for two weeks, head into Pall-mall for a long weekend and boom, you've just house sat in London for an entire month. Added advantage - you got to see more of London.
House Sitting in the UK
Ask any non-Londoner (like myself) and they will tell you: there is so much more to the UK than London. (And lots of Londoners might just well agree.) Whilst you're over there, why not extend your trip and see more by house sitting UK? We've house sat in some beautiful places (mostly around the Cotswolds). And if you're looking for long term house sitting jobs, you're far more likely to find these outside of London. The UK has the advantage (here) of being a tiny place, so, unlike house sitting in places like Australia, USA and Canada, you really can get a taste for the entire country without travelling for hours on end. (Literally, to drive the entirety of the UK only takes 16 hours.)
Here are some short term house sitting opportunities that we found on THS in central London: look after two cats for a short weekend. The house is the best of both worlds - really central London and 5 minutes away from the train station, but simultaneously on a very quiet and peaceful street - rare for central London!
Here's another one: house sit for one beautiful cat in Eastern London for three weeks. Home owners are retired (hence the longer house sit), lovely cat has never been in a cattery so kind cat sitters are very much needed. And there are many more... sign up to THS and you can check yourself.
Things to Know Before You House Sit in London
There are some very important things to consider before one applies for a house sitting gig in London, here they are:
The Best location to stay in London
I've never found a location in London that I didn't like but, be warned, the different neighbourhoods are extremely different to each other. London used to be a collection of little villages and you can still tell: some are snobby, some are hipstery, some are 'rough'. All are always changing, so one that was considered 'dangerous' ten years ago, is probably now considered one of the hottest up and coming neighbourhoods - the best place to buy your first home. Do a little research before hand, and you won't end up in a neighbourhood that you hate. But be open-minded - London might surprise you. And wherever you go, you have access to everywhere else via bike (the home owners might lend you one!), by foot, or by the extensive Underground and bus network.
Transport in London
Speaking of which, transport in London can be a bit confusing. It's more expensive, than say Eastern Europe the signs can point you in the wrong direction, but you're always in for a fun ride - whether it's a cool, quirky busker or one of the most random people you've ever seen on the Underground. Here are some tips:
- Get an Oyster card, it makes the Tube a fraction of the price;
- If you have a contactless card, you can use it to pay for the buses (they don't take cash);
- If you have to change trains (which you probably will), it's often cheaper to pay for two tickets, aka one to wherever it is you change and another from there to wherever you're going. Don't ask me why. It's crazy!
- A return ticket is almost always cheaper than two singles, so if you know for sure you'll be returning via the same route - get a return!
Airports in London
Although there are a lot of them half of the 'London' airports aren't really in London at all. To get into central London, with public transport keep in mind it takes about
- 30 minutes from Gatwick airport (10 Euros);
- 45 minutes to 1 hour from Heathrow airport (5 Euros);
- 1 hour from Luton airport (10 - 20 Euros);
- 2 hours from Stansted airport with the bus (10 Euros) or 1 hour by train (20 Euros).
I always use Kiwi to find the cheapest flights into London, their website is super easy to use. You can write in 'London' or even 'England' and it will check all the airports for you to find you the best deal. It also finds you the route that is the quickest (something no other flight comparison website does). Put simply, Kiwi rocks. But if it's 15 euros cheaper to fly into Stansted than Heathrow, you might as well fly into Heathrow, you'll save that money on the bus and the connection is quicker and easier.
Things to do in London
Some of the best things to do in London are absolutely free. Personally, I love just walking around somewhere like Camden, taking in the street art, soaking up the yummy smells, caving in and buying said yummy smells. Here are some of my personal favourite things to do in London:
- Harry Potter Tour of Warner Bros - I don't think any tour of London is complete without a trip to the Harry Potter Studios, unless of course you're not a Potterhead.. Like Stansted, this place is definitely not in central London, but is easily accessible and a perfect day trip;
- Stonehenge tour - another one that's outside of London.. but definitely a must-do is a trip to Stonehenge for history and mystery!
- London Hop-On Hop-Off Tour - okay finally we're in London. I've often found hop-on hop-off tours to be disappointing because there's not that much to see - not true for London. It's a great way for newbie house sitters to get acquainted with this massive city. Plus what's more quintessentially British than a big red double decker?
- Black Cab London highlights tour - well to answer my own above question, perhaps the little black cab. For those that don't want to brave the crowds or the weather, try a black cab tour of London instead;
- The Tate Modern - my favourite art museum!
Wrap Up: House Sitting in London
House sitting in London is one of the first places I recommend people house sit - it's diverse, there are plenty of house sits available and newbie house sitters are almost guaranteed to get a house sit. I always say that house sitting is almost a contradiction - what other method allows you to travel both cheaply and luxuriously. With London being such an expensive city usually, and with so many luxury house sitting London jobs available, this cheap/luxurious travel paradox is very apparent. For more on Europe, how about trying house sitting in Ireland? We have also made this video for newcomers to house sitting, enjoy :)
P.S.: If you're interested in a way of travelling and getting accommodation cheaply, you might wanna check out house sitting. Trustedhousesitters.com was kind enough to provide us and our readers with a 10% discount, feel free to click on the link to use it :)
