A Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations.[1] The caretaking profession includes positions as housesitters, ranch sitters, bed & breakfast and innsitters, property managers, estate managers, and hosts at resorts or campgrounds.
Caretakers are sometimes utilized by property owners who do not want or are unable to hire a professional management company. In modern times, it is not unlikely for a property owner to hire a caretaker who will not be residing in the property. In fact, many homeowners who rent their properties hire caretakers instead of property managers in order to save money. Caretakers are not licensed by any state or local authority and can often be less expensive than their professional counterparts.
In the UK, a number of buildings have a live-in caretaker whose part-time responsibilities might include letting tradesmen in, taking in parcels and signing for letters, holding keys, vacuuming the common areas, washing the communal steps and windows, etc. He or she will often live in their flat rent free.
Caretaking is historical, rooted in the British tradition of land maintenance. In 1868, The Times defined a caretaker as “a person put in charge of a farm from which the tenant has been evicted.” Today that definition has been expanded to cover a multitude of landowner/caretaker relationships. The number and diversity of these relationships has increased during the past decade. The property caretaking field has been covered by The Caretaker Gazette since 1983.