To feel strange handing my house key to a cleaner

[Startingjobcode]

Just meet a lovely woman who is going to start cleaning my house in a few weeks when I go back to work. I thought about what I wanted done and all that type of stuff but I didn't occur to me until she asked that I need to give her a key!
I feel very odd now that I know someone who I found through a local Facebook site has a key to my home aibu to feel so uncomfortable? How do other people who have cleaners manage?

I'm a cleaner and have keys for clients houses, could you maybe leave a key in a safe place then get the cleaner to post it back thru the door when shes done. Then you can build up trust until you feel okay with handing a key over.

I wouldn’t feel comfortable until I’d built some trust.

What some people do is give a back door key and then lock their garden gate so even someone with the key couldn’t access the back door on other days.

Another option is to give a key for a door you don’t use all the time so you can put a chain on or leave another key in the other side on days your cleaner isn’t due.

That said, lots of people give a house key to their cleaner and I suspect the chance of it going wrong is fairly small.

May be difficult if non family members have keys if anything goes missing...

(Although most housekeepers are scrupulously honest!)

If its a yale lock... Could you leave it 'on the snib' nd she locks as she leaves... Assuming the gap between you leaving and her arriving isn't much??

I cope with handing my key over my taking an honest look at my house and thinking really what would they take ? What are your fears about what would happen?

I have keys. I also have a client who I see first thing. She gives me the key and I post it when I leave. They will be getting a key safe soon so I don't have to see them (change in work hours) could you do either of these?

All cleaners are burglars of course

Check she has liability insurance plus with key holding added to it, I wouldn't have been without it when I was a cleaner although nothing terrible happened it was great to know that I was covered for worst case scenarios.

I suppose it weird to trust a stranger to be in your home but if she has a good reputation and client base then chances are she is trustworthy.

It feels strange.

It also feels strange handing children over to a nanny.

You get used to it.

You get used to it. I've had cleaners for over 15 years now, and so have handed my key over to lots of people over that time.

If you really can't get used to it, invest in an electronic lock (where the cleaner has their own code that you can turn on and off) or a key safe.

I don't give my key out to a cleaner, I just get someone who can come when I'm in. Unless you're going through police checks, character reference checks etc, you can't be sure it's safe.