What we each agree to.

Who you are dealing with

Tamara's Home & Hound is a sole trader based in York. There is no agency and no staff. The person who meets you is the person who does the sit, and I do not send anyone else in my place.

What the service is

Overnight house and pet sitting in your home, and drop-in pet visits of thirty or sixty minutes in your home. I do not board animals at my house, I do not run daycare, and I do not offer dog walking as a standalone service.

How a booking is made

You send an enquiry, we talk it through, and I come to your house for a meet and greet. The meet and greet is free and carries no obligation on either side, and nothing is held or confirmed until after it. If we both want to go ahead, I send a Square invoice; the agreed deposit secures the booking.

Prices

£50 a night for overnight sitting, £22 for a sixty-minute visit and £15 for a thirty-minute visit.

The overnight rate covers one pet. Each additional pet is £25 per night, so a household of 1 pet is £50 a night, 2 pets is £75 a night, 3 pets is £100 a night. For drop-in visits, additional pets or more involved care are discussed and quoted before the booking rather than charged from a fixed list.

Bank-holiday rates apply on official bank holidays in England. Bank holiday nights start at £60, with the same £25 per additional pet per night. When I quote I will tell you which of your nights I am treating as a bank holiday.

Drop-in visits run within about five miles of York and overnight stays within about fifteen miles. There is no travel surcharge. Beyond those distances, ask anyway — whether I can take the booking is a question of what else is in the diary, and I will tell you straight away.

Payment

Invoices are issued through Square. The agreed deposit secures the booking and the remaining balance is due later as set out on the invoice. I do not take card details directly and there is no account for you to create.

Changes and cancellations

Life changes and plans move. Tell me as early as you can.

• Cancel more than two days before the booking starts and there is nothing to pay. If you have already paid a deposit, you get it back.
• Cancel within two days of the start, and the deposit is what you lose. That is the whole of it — I do not charge the rest of the booking as a cancellation fee.
• If I have to cancel the booking, you get a full refund of everything you have paid.

The deposit figure that applies to your booking is shown on your Square invoice before you pay anything.

Access, keys and your home

How I get into your home, and how that access comes back to you afterwards, is agreed with you before the booking and recorded in the care notes. Your keys and your home are treated securely while I have them. I will treat your home as I would want mine treated, and I will tell you if something breaks rather than hoping you do not notice.

Please tell me before the booking if there are cameras in the house, if anyone else has a key, or if anyone else is expected to come in while I am there.

Your animals’ health

You need to tell me honestly about your animal’s health, medication, and behaviour, including any history of biting or of reacting badly to strangers or other animals. I can only look after an animal properly if I know what I am looking after.

Your vet’s details, your emergency contact and who can authorise treatment, and up to what cost, are agreed in writing in the care notes before your first night. If your animal becomes ill or is injured I follow those arrangements and get hold of you or your nominated contact, so that decision is never being made from an airport. Veterinary fees are yours.

Please make sure vaccinations and any flea and worm treatment are up to date before the booking.

I can give routine medication, including injections such as insulin, where you provide clear written instructions and we have gone through them together before the booking. I am not a vet, and I will say so if a particular medical routine is beyond what I can take on rather than agree to it and hope.

When I might have to say no

I may decline or end a booking if an animal turns out to be a genuine danger to me or to others, if the information I was given was materially wrong, or if the home is not safe to stay in. I will always tell you why, and I will not simply stop turning up.

Complaints

If something goes wrong, tell me. Email [email protected] or use the enquiry form and I will reply. Nothing on this page affects your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.