I started housesitting in Ireland and abroad to avoid paying rent – this is my experience

Aoife CodyKane shares her experience of using a housesitting website to travel while keeping costs low — and all the pets she befriended along the way

Aoife CodyKane and rescue dog Max. Picture: Moya Nolan

You’ve seen the headlines, you know the story: the housing crisis in Ireland is out of control. When my partner Luke and I started planning on coming home to Dublin after a few months’ travel, it only took a cursory glance at daft.ie to know our prospects were bleak.

Our funds were low — we had saved up for a year to go backpacking, and our pockets were well and truly emptied. Hoping to avoid less-than-desirable house shares or moving back in with parents, we had to get creative. That’s when a suggestion made by my auntie Anne resulted in a lightbulb moment; why not try housesitting?

So began our adventures through the website trustedhousesitters.com (which should really be called trustedpetsitters, since we’re yet to find one house that doesn’t come with beloved ‘furbabies’ as part of the deal). From four colourful cats in Kuala Lumpur, to a ginormous rescue mix in Glasgow, we found ourselves in a variety of locations over a few months. 

There’s something incredibly immersive about experiencing a new place while assuming the roles of the people who live there — you really feel more local than tourist. Of course, we’re dog and cat people, which is kind of a non-negotiable if you want to do this sort of thing. After five weeks with a dog called Tappo just outside Milan, I cried my eyes out, not wanting to leave.

Aoife CodyKane. Picture: Moya Nolan

Of course, housesitting is not without its challenges: most of them medium-sized and covered in fur. There was the time last month when I mistakenly wore Birkenstocks to walk a German Shepherd, using a waist lead. One sniff of a squirrel and I was promptly yanked halfway across the park, whole body bent backwards and parallel to the ground, feet sliding along like some kind of amateur skier. 

There was the cat that would only drink from the tap, turning it on at 4am and very nearly flooding the kitchen. The 10-year-old rescue who woke every night to howl until one of us reluctantly joined him on the couch. Before long, we were jokingly referring to the experience as a pet-contraceptive.

Families are different everywhere too, with unique expectations. Some are happy for you to find your own groove, while others want you to do exactly as they do. On our first night in a new house we received a message informing us of the sleeping arrangements: cat, human, cat, human, 70kg alsatian. Sure enough, we obliged, tucking ourselves into an average-sized bed like a pack of sardines for the sake of the pet’s routine!

After a few foreign adventures, we set our sights on the homeland. We secured two weeks in a beautiful house in Kinsale with two gorgeous doggy brothers, Duke and Earl. Upon seeing how many Irish house owners were active on the site, the penny dropped for me that, hypothetically, we could live in Ireland without paying a cent in rent. And it turns out, I’m not the only one. Between both sitters and houseowners, there are currently 3,000 Irish people signed up to TrustedHousesitters.

Stef Stewart, a 25-year-old from Swords, is one of them. She’s been housesitting for two reasons — to avoid Dublin rent (hear, hear) and to explore Cork City as somewhere she might move to in the future.

Stef with a pet

“I was living with my partner [in Dublin] and the rent just got a bit much for us,” she explains. “We were stuck in a two-bed with another couple — it was tiny. It was just kind of hell.”

When Stef and her partner split, she felt “priced out of Dublin”, moving back home with her parents.

“I think I could get a house, but I’d be paying a ton of rent in a house share... I was making a pretty good salary in my last job, but I still was like: ‘Why don’t I have any money?’”

So Stef signed up for Trusted Housesitters. Initially, she admits she baulked slightly at the “steep” sign-up fee (€150 for the year). 

“But the first [two-week housesit] I did, you’d literally pay that for one night in Cork! I have thought about finding some sits in Dublin, just to get out of my parents’ for a few days. It’d be nice to be back in the place where you’ve made a community, where you have your favourite cafes and walks.”

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After three housesits in Cork, Stef sees it as a great option for people in similar positions.

“It’s been really nice to see different communities, meet new people. You kind of take on someone’s life; you’re drinking their coffee, sitting in their chair, going to their local shop.”

Now Stef says she might try to take it a little further, just like we did.

“My original plan was to get a job and an apartment… but the more I think about it now, I think I’m going to keep doing housesits and go abroad for a few months.”

Aleksandra and Frida

Aleksandra Schmidt, a creative director and photographer based in Dublin, also found herself at a loss with rent prices following a break-up. She was struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, especially considering she had a daschund puppy at the time. 

“It was almost impossible. Unless you’re in a long-term lease, the landlord knows you, or you’ve got the kind of family connections that make phonecalls for you. I had none of those.

“I was left with the €1,600 apartment we had shared, €230 in bills, and a puppy I couldn’t bear to part with. I worked a minimum-wage job and did freelance photography on the side, somehow making ends meet.”

Aleksandra saw an Instagram story from a mutual friend who needed someone to pet-sit for an entire summer. She jumped at the opportunity to look after a 12-year-old labrador called Sandy, bringing her own pup Frida with her.

“I walked the dogs, watered tomato plants that weren’t mine. I had a home — for three full summer months. With a garden, not far from the city centre, and two dogs I loved.”

Aleksandra adds that it wasn’t just an economic choice, needing space post-breakup, but that “it helped massively in building up a deposit for a new place.”

Is housesitting a viable option for people who don’t want to pay an extortionate amount of rent in Dublin? Picture: Moya Nolan

You might be noticing a pattern here — housesitting doesn’t quite work if you have a 9 to 5, in-house job. There’s a definite privilege that comes with being able to house-sit, namely having flexible or freelance work, and having a place to anchor yourself in between sits. (Luke and I are very lucky to have the option to stay with his parents.) This is something Trusted Housesitters stressed when I reached out to ask about their stance on chronic rent avoiders.

Angela Laws, head of community, says: “Trusted Housesitters isn’t an alternative or solution to full-time accommodation. We’d always suggest that sitters enjoy the service, but have alternative accommodation available, should they require it.”

Have they noticed more sign-ups in the last few years, as rent prices skyrocket all across the globe? Absolutely.

Emma Lumley, the site’s PR and campaigns manager, shares that they’ve seen a steady increase since 2022, though she puts it down to a typical “post-covid travel boom.” She also tells me that so far in 2025, more than 7,000 sits globally have been for longer than 29 days.

So, is it a viable option for people who don’t want to pay an extortionate amount of rent in Dublin? Temporarily, absolutely. But, long-term? Probably not.

While we’ve loved our time housesitting, the energy it requires is taxing, from tailoring your applications to houseowners, to moving your whole life into a new space every few weeks.

As we officially move home with the savings we’ve made, we’ll keep our membership for occasional breaks and adventures. And who knows — maybe in a year or two, if the housing bubble hasn’t popped, we’ll jet off for a global adventure again.

• Update added Sep 8: There have been reports of housesitters being refused entry to countries where housesitting is regarded as work that requires a work visa. In a statement on their website, Trustedhousesitters say: "The sole purpose of Trustedhousesitters is for tourism and to enable enriching travel experiences for our members. However, we recognise that sometimes house sitting can be categorised as work by border officials. In these cases, some sitters have found entry challenging and some have even been refused entry to a country as a result." Sitters are encouraged to check entry requirements in the countries they are visiting, before they travel.