Under the Australian Consumer Law, business providing a house sitting, pet sitting, baby sitting or cleaning service must meet service guarantees.
Consumer advice - how to protect yourself
To reduce the chance of problems, consider doing the following:
- Contact several agencies before making a decision to get an idea of what is offered in their services
- Read independent consumer reviews to get an idea of previous customers' satisfaction
- Ask for references where available
- Do a business name search to check the business is registered with ASIC
- Do a licence and registration search to check the business is a licensed Employment Agent
- Check if people who will work in your home have a National Police Certificate
- Clarify what the business’ insurance will cover if something goes wrong while their employees are in your home.
- Check your own insurance - it might have exclusions for deliberate damage and theft caused by people lawfully invited onto your property. This includes cleaners, sitters and their guests. Contact your insurer to see if your cover can be updated to cover these services.
If you have suffered a ‘consequential loss’ from the services, you may be eligible for compensation.
Advice for service providers
Prospective customers are likely to look for reviews or ask for independent references from previous customers. You must have permission from previous customers to offer their contact details to prospective customers. The previous customer must profit from sharing their opinion so it does not become unrealistically favourable.
Businesses must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct such as:
- write a fake review
- ask or pay someone to write a review
- write a false review about a competitor
- hide negative customer reviews.
Ideally, contracts between you and your customer will be in writing so you both have a clear understanding of your obligations. Written contracts must not contain any unfair contract terms.
Be clear to your customers about what your business’ insurance will cover if something goes wrong while your employees are in their homes.
It is good practice to obtain a National Police Certificate for your employees.
This type of business may also class you as an employment agent, for which you must have a licence.
Other resources are available for new and small businesses.
If problems occur
You can contact us about your rights and obligations under the Australian Consumer Law. You can call our contact centre on 1300 304 054 or send us an email.