Where the line falls, and why sitters get it wrong
Visiting an animal in its own home is, in most of the English-speaking world, not a licensed activity. Boarding an animal in your home is. That single distinction decides most of what a pet sitting website has to say, and it is the one sitters most often misread.
Three other things catch people out everywhere. Claims about insurance, vetting and first aid are regulated. Holiday reminder texts are marketing messages, and those need consent. And a sitting business holds unusually sensitive data: addresses, alarm codes, key arrangements and the dates a house is empty.
Orientation, not legal advice. Your council, local authority, state or municipal licensing body and a local adviser are the authorities.
United Kingdom
Licensing. In England, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018 licence home boarding of dogs and dog day care. Visiting or staying in the owner's own home to care for their pets is generally outside that regime. If you also board dogs at your address, you need the local authority licence and a star rating, and owners will look for both on the site. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own arrangements. Hold no licence and do not imply you do, show what you do have.
Claims. Name your cover, including care custody and control and key cover, your DBS or Disclosure Scotland check with a date, and your first aid course with its year. If you name a qualification, hold it.
Prices. Consumer law expects honest, complete prices, shown inclusive of VAT if you are registered. Say what the holiday surcharge is and which dates it covers rather than adding it to the invoice.
Cancellation. The Consumer Contracts Regulations set information duties for services booked online and a cancellation right, with an exception once a dated service is performed by agreement. Put deposit and cancellation terms on the booking page in the words of the agreement.
Data and texts. UK GDPR for client, pet and access records, PECR for marketing messages. The soft opt-in covers texting an existing client about a similar service, with an unsubscribe route every time.
United States
Licensing. No state licenses pet sitting as a profession. A general business licence usually applies, and a kennel or boarding licence if animals stay at your property. Some cities regulate animal-related businesses directly, so check your city and county rather than assuming.
Claims. The FTC and state consumer protection acts cover deceptive advertising. If you advertise being bonded and insured, both need to be true and current.
Texting. The big one for sitters, whose retention model is a message before the next holiday. The TCPA governs text messages, and automated marketing texts generally need prior express written consent gathered at booking with a clear opt-out. Confirmations and visit reports for a booking the client made are treated differently from promotional blasts, so build campaigns with that distinction in mind and take advice before pushing offers.
Privacy. State privacy laws in California and a growing list of others, above their thresholds.
Canada
Licensing. Municipal. Some cities require a business licence for animal-related services and set conditions; kennel licences apply if animals stay with you.
Consumer law. Provincial consumer protection acts, Quebec's the strictest on advertised prices and contract terms, plus misleading advertising under the Competition Act. A site serving Quebec needs French.
Data and texts. PIPEDA, Quebec's Law 25 and CASL. CASL is stricter than most sitters expect: commercial electronic messages need consent, must identify the sender and must carry an unsubscribe. Implied consent from an existing business relationship exists but is time-limited, so messaging a client last seen three summers ago is not a safe assumption.
Australia
Licensing. State, territory and council. In-home pet sitting is largely unregulated, but councils vary on registration for animal businesses, and boarding follows state codes of practice with council registration. Ask your council rather than a neighbouring sitter.
Consumer law. The Australian Consumer Law on misleading conduct, consumer guarantees and unfair contract terms, which reaches into the cancellation clauses in your booking terms. Prices are single figures including GST.
Data and texts. The Privacy Act above its threshold, and a privacy policy expected anyway once your booking flow collects addresses and access details. The Spam Act for marketing email and text: consent, identification, a working unsubscribe.
European Union
Licensing. National, and this is where the boarding line moves. Germany requires a permit under its animal welfare law for commercial animal activities including boarding, commonly shown on the site; whether visiting-only sitting falls inside varies, so confirm with the local veterinary office.
Company details. The e-commerce information duties, strictest in the German and Austrian Impressum tradition: legal name, address, contact, register and VAT numbers.
Consumer law. Information duties and a withdrawal right for services booked online, with the usual exception once a dated service is agreed and performed. Prices inclusive of VAT.
Data. GDPR and ePrivacy consent for cookies. Keys, alarm codes, addresses and travel dates are personal data about the client, so the privacy notice should say where they are held, normally your pet care software rather than the website, and for how long.
What is the same everywhere
- Show the insurance, background check and first aid you hold, with dates, and any licence your regime requires if you board.
- State prices per visit type honestly and inclusive of tax, and publish the holiday surcharge dates.
- Put deposit and cancellation terms at the point of booking, in the words the client signs.
- Get consent for holiday reminder texts at booking, and give an opt-out in every message.
- Say how keys, codes and addresses are stored, and never collect an alarm code through a plain website form.
- Publish company details and a privacy notice, and build to WCAG 2.1 AA.
Where this sits
Every pet sitting website we build runs a country checklist at the content stage: licence display where boarding applies, credentials, price and cancellation statements, marketing consent, data handling and accessibility. The same checklist runs across the wider pet business websites we make. For most sitters, real credentials, a stated surcharge and correct texting consent cover nearly all of it.