AIBU to refuse to view a house if I have to remove my shoes?

[iliketea]

I'm happy to be told IABU....

We are currently house hunting. A few of the houses we've requested to view have asked us to remove our shoes at the door. At that point, I've said I'm not viewing a house in my socks and stopped the viewin before it's even started if the shoe thing is non-negotiable.

AIBU? it's not that i mind taking my shoes off when I'm visiting a friend - and generally do take my shoes in friends homes, but I find it weird that if you are trying to sell your house that you expect viewers to take their shoes off.

Or am I likely to miss a really great house and just suck it up / make sure i've got non-holey, matching socks wheb we go to view a house?

Yabu. Do your feet smell?

It sounds like quite a few people did viewings themselves then? All the ones we visited the estate agent did.

It makes me think you're arrogant. Just take a pair of totes with a rubber grip underneath if it bothers you that much.

YABU. When we were looking to buy our house we always asked when we went for viewings if they'd like us to remove our shoes. It's called manners.

I think it lazy planning by the home owners.

item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=320934939606

For £2.99 you can get 100 shoe covers. I have always got these by the front door and nobody comes in my house without either removing shoes or using one of these covers.

Very weird.

To me it would show disrespect to wander round a house I don't know in my outdoor shoes.

See I'd think it was weird to have the shoe covers :o

Be like stepping into some weird medical experiment or something

Forty - don;t your guests get the urge to start dusting for finger prints and marking out where the bodies are?

"I work in people's homes, absolutely do not take shoes off as they are part of ppe"

Seriously? Even where not taking shoes off is a significant cultural no-no, and where slippers are provided? If you walked into a Japanese or Thai home with your outdoor shoes on you'd be causing very very serious offence, for instance. Akin to blowing your nose on the sofa cover. Surely that isn't acceptable professional practice?

YABU.

If you've refused to view a few times now when people will have made an effort to clean and tidy and have probably taken time off work (how rude), then believe me, you're well known amongst the local estate agents.

They probably all think you're a time waster who isn't serious and just wants a nosey in other people's homes.

People are trying to sell you their house, not their hospitality. You're supposed to be choosing the best house, not the nicest most accommodating owner.

I always ask at the door of anyones home if I should remove my shoes, I wouldnt dream of not asking tbh. Outdoor shoes and carpets is something I dont think should mix in my opinion, but each to their own. I would never not view a house on something so small, that would be a little silly. Just take a pair of slippers in your bag if it bothers you that much.

When we lived in Germany, you wouldn't dream of keeping your shoes on when you went into either your own flat or someone else's. And most flats had hard floors.

Even DD had special "house shoes" which she changed into at Kindergarten. Initially I thought it was weird, but we soon got used to it. Some of my friend even had a hanging bag at the entrance, full of slippers for people to change into if they forgot their own, like this:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polish-Hanging-Carpet-Bag-Containing-5-pairs-of-Slippers-/321237448273

:) I only have a few guest which have their own slippers.

oh I do like a nice shoes on/off threa

YABU.

Just think if you buy the house the floors will all be that much cleaner when you move in!

The house owners probably just want to keep it looking nice and clean for the next viewing.

I'm on the shoes off side where possible but I wouldn't go to the wall on it. It's something that we pretty much do in Germany

It is absolutely acceptable practice, - we wear shoe covers if necessary (and now the penny is dropping - i'll get a pair of blue covers for work). And the trust will write to a patient and advise them that staff do no have to take their shoes off / will provide shoe covers if necessary). Shoes are no different from gloves / aprons when it comes to ppe.

YABU, a bit rude and disrespectful. I like people to take their shoes off as I like to have barefeet in my home.

Forty as someone who can't remove footwear easily due to disability I appreciate foot covers as long as you're prepared to help me with them. I know I need to move in about 2 years and after this thread I'm dreading it. I'll be arrogant and disrespectful, a bad neighbour and difficult to do business with when in reality I'm not but I am disabled. I'm going to be moving about 300 miles so hard enough without the added stress of being made to feel bad about shoes.

I automatically take my shoes even when going to strange houses. Each to their own I guess but I don't know why people like having shoes on in the house. Leaving aside hygiene reasons, I just love the feeling of getting home and kicking my shoes off in the hallway.

In somebody else's house it's their house their rules and if they are having lots of viewings I can understand why they would take this stance

jacks - So many people don't care about disability when it comes to shoes off. As I said, their possessions take priority.

Taking shoes off is difficult for many people with disabilities, including some hidden disabilities.

Are doormats a thing of the past then?

Wipe your feet - jib done.

I really can't understand the angst.

It's inhospitable to ask a guest to do something that makes them uncomfortable - especially a guest that you are trying to persuade to buy your house.

Madness, I tell you. Wipenwalk.

Houses you view belong to someone else! You respect their wishes or don't go in - it's your choice whether to pass over a nice house for this reason I suppose.

If it is such a problem for you, then take a pair of slippers or similar with you to change into.

I have been asked to remove shoes when viewing houses. I have seen agents walk around in suit and socks. It's perfectly normal, but yes you are correct that times have changed - 10 or 15 years back, you would probably viewed in shoes.