Man Agrees To House-Sit Neighbor’s Home For Three Weeks — But They End Up Vanishing For Almost A Year

Aug 10, 2021

House-sitting for a friend or neighbor when they go out of town is a pretty typical favor to ask for. However, if the family you were house-sitting for never returned, then you could find yourself in a difficult situation. This was the case for a man in June 2019, who agreed to house sit for his neighbors for initially a few weeks, and then they disappeared for nearly a year. 

The man told his story on Reddit, seeking out legal advice for what he should do moving forward. He said in his post that his neighbors, who he had only interacted with a couple of times, asked him to take care of their pets and their house while they were in Taiwan due to a loss in the family. The man telling the story agreed and was given $500 for food for their two german shepherds and a cat.

After a month, the neighbors wrote to the man and said they needed more time in Taiwan with their family and asked him to continue his house-sitting duties for two more weeks. Then, when the family did not return in mid-July, as agreed, the man reached out to his neighbors and never received a response. He also tried calling them but the phone number was no longer in service.

In November of 2019, one of the neighbor’s dogs started to become ill and ended up needing surgery. The man paid for it as he was unable to see the dog suffer because of the owner’s irresponsibility. Then, after nearly a year had passed since the neighbors disappeared, a pipe burst in the house, and the basement flooded. This is when the man finally reached out online for advice on what to do about the whole situation.  

Many Reddit users commented on the post offering both legal and general advice. A common request was for the man to turn over the dogs to a breed rescue instead of an animal shelter if he wanted to get rid of them because they would have a higher chance of being adopted. 

The main advice he received was to report the couple as missing and reach out to the Canadian Embassy to see if they could be contacted in Taiwan. This is what the man chose to do, and it worked. He wrote in an updated post: 

“Tonight I got a phone call from them, explaining they just decided to stay much much longer and spend time with family/friends. They apparently asked his wife's brother to come and collect the animals and get the key a long time ago back in August but never followed up on it.”

The whole situation was frustrating, but especially the neighbor’s attitude about the efforts the man went to reach him. “He was also quite confused and somewhat annoyed, about the lengths we went to get in touch with him. He didn't understand why we reached out to the embassy. He then offered to send me a bunch of money to square away the inconvenience, and that was more or less it,” the man wrote.

In the end, the neighbor said that the man could keep his pets or a family member would come to retrieve them. The Reddit poster said, “Anyways me and my wife are going to keep the pets simply because well I don't think either of us can part with the dogs and his cat at this point.”

What would you do in this situation? Have you ever been through something like this before? We are curious to hear from you! Don’t hesitate to pass this on to your friends and family.