We recently (April) moved into a rented house on a private let (no agent). It used to be the landlady Mrs L's home but she now lives 15 miles away in poor health. We needed some work done and I discovered the neighbour across the road has keys to the house. I must have looked shocked because neighbour explained this is mostly so she can let decorators, cleaners etc in and out between tenancies, although she has done it during tenancies too with prior agreement. She also said she would return keys to Mrs L if we are not comfortable with her having them.
I'm not comfortable at all but DH says (a) if she doesn't have keys one of us will have to take time off work for repairs and (b) she seems alright from little we know of her and (c) if we make her send keys back, Mrs L would probably give them to somebody else that we don't even know.
My point is this lady lives directly opposite, does not work and even if not sitting staring out the window all the time, she is bound to notice if we are packing up car and DC to go away for a weekend or whatever. So she would see the coast was clear to nip over and have a nose around either from curiousity or to report back to Mrs L. She seems the "kind but nosy" type to me.
Tenancy agreement drawn up by Mrs L's solicitor says we cannot change locks without giving new key to Mrs L. The neighbour would probably notice this being done too.
I want to tell Mrs L we don't want anyone but her having keys while we live here but DH says IABU...?