Cleaner let cats into living room

[slithytoveisascientist]

Last week she let them into bedroom and luckily I caught it before anything happened. I reminded her and she was very apologetic and promised to be more careful.

This week she has left the living room door open and the cats have gone in and scratched my leather sofa. It’s never had any damage before and I’m gutted.

AIBU to ask to claim on her insurance for a repair, and will I even have any success?

Agreed

She shouldn’t have left the door open but it’s very different to leaving a main entrance door open that jeopardises security. When you have a lot to do on a schedule and your mind has to be in multiple places at once it’s easy to not realise internal doors are left open etc. Most people wouldn’t think twice about it. This would not have been a malicious act on her part but human error and completely unreasonable for her to have to worry about your cats - they are your responsibility. Cats have free to roam status for a reason in the UK because they are stealthy and will roam into places they’re not meant to and without humans realising. (Assuming you’re UK based?). With the exception of upstairs the fact they’re not allowed in rooms downstairs is a bit much IMO it’s their nature to explore and to scratch for their health. You shouldn’t really own a cat if you’re not prepared to take responsibility for normal cat behaviour. She’s a cleaner, not a cat sitter. Cats are very different to dogs who can be trained, maybe get a dog instead next time. If you tried to take her to the small claims court you would be laughed out of it quite frankly so no in short she should not claim on her insurance. This wouldn’t even be covered in her insurance anyway. You have two options, accept it’s a “you problem” and get a leather repair kit or sack your cleaner who will probably tell all other cleaners she knows locally that you have an extremely odd mindset who then won’t touch you with a barge pole for fear of making the same common mistake.

you keep saying its just 2 rooms out of about 8 they cant go in. That’s the problem -its the randomness. For a cleaner coming in just once a week i think thats a big ask to expect them to remember random house rules. Your kids live there and have this drilled in to them so that is different. When i have workers in the house i try to get them to keep front door shut so doggy doesnt run out but basically I know they’ll forget so i usually keep her with me shut in kitchen to be doubly sure as its too much to expect when they have their mind on the job.
On another note i prefer leather sofas that have a more distressed look.

I don't understand why you have been given such a hard time. You made a perfectly reasonable request for a cleaner you employed to follow your house rules. Rules which protect your property and your animals. Once I could accept as a mistake but twice shows a lack of care and attention. I think it will be hard to regain trust. I would show her the damage her second mistake has caused. Her response would be a good guide as to whether you can continue to employ her.

As to the cats it is clear they have a loving home and I cannot understand why so many posters have given you such a hard time. Our home currently has three cats and a dog. We have rules about where they are allowed. Eg not in the sitting room unless we are there - both to prevent damage and stop them making every seat/bed in the house hairy or dirty even when no humans are present. In a normal size house this is perfectly reasonable and not in any way cruel.

Please ignore the nasty posts and start looking for a new cleaner as this one has shown she may not be able to keep your house and your pets safe.

@crumblycrust surely her having insurance is a good indicator?

Also even if she was minimum wage, sole trader, where is any bullying happening?

House cats living their entire lives in six rooms when they roam for miles in their natural habitat is not on.

Are you paying your cleaner extra for baby sitting the cats and managing them?

You have to be taking the absolute piss.

One room up
One room down

Never mentioned small claims

PL insurance is for damage

She NEVER SEES THE CATS

ITS SHUTTING A DOOR

I think they’re talking out of an alternative orifice.

People are just being dicks to you for the sake of it now, OP. Either that or they never learnt reading comprehension.

Ridiculous post.

Our cats are little buggers about being "not allowed" places.
They generally go wherever they want but when FIL comes to stay we try to keep that bedroom door closed because he hates them. They seem to know this and make every effort to get in the room.
DD even saw boy-cat take a run up and shoulder barge the door open when it was closed 🤣

😂

I really hope your cleaner is on Mumsnet and sees this thread, imo no amount of money justifies putting up with this blame -everyone-else attitude

I'm only pointing out why I think people have (unreasonably) piled on to you.

As I previously stated, I don't think you're BU to have certain less-used rooms off limits to pets, or to annoyed that your cleaner can't follow a simple instruction despite being reminded twice. (Though I wouldn't claim insurance if she was min wage employee, but you've already said she isn't – which again is key context)

Not the cleaner's fault, it's not her job to manage your cats for you.

I don't understand though why you bought a sofa you knew they could destroy. There are many cat friendly couches that are far more elegant than a leather couch. It seems like inviting trouble.

You won't find a good, reliable cleaner in this area willing to work for less than £20/h - demand is high so why shouldn't they command a fair wage for doing a good job.

Cats are savages. My one elderly cat wreaks far more havoc than both my boisterous dogs. She loves nothing more than using sofas, carpets or even the wall as scratching posts, and has destroyed a sofa, several carpets and a whole load of wallpaper, as well as weeing on the doormat so it has to be permanently covered up to deter her.

I think if you're not prepared to put up with this, then don't get a cat. I won't be getting another one - I love mine but she's an absolute pain in the butt and I've considered rehoming her several times (but just couldn't do it to her in the end).

Irrespective of how many rooms, my point still remains. You have to accept this is because of your normal cat’s behaviour and not your cleaner’s responsibility. Cats can’t tell what rooms they are or are not allowed in. But please, do feel free to skirt over the many other valid points I have made to suit your skewed agenda. If she doesn’t agree to claim on her insurance, under normal circumstances the next logical step would be small claims and what wouldn’t be enforceable there wouldn’t be accepted by insurance either. I didn’t really think I’d have to explain that as thats pretty straightforward logic but my mistake. Yes, I am aware of how insurance works but there will be limitations as to situations insurance will accept. Insurance companies will try their hardest to avoid a pay out and this situation is largely your own fault for not securing your cats when you have outsiders in your house with the intention of them moving through it. Negligence would be included but this would not be one of those cases. It’s not as though she damaged your sofa directly herself by scuffing it or spilling bleach on it - your cats did.

If they ‘command’ it, and you’re willing to pay it, fine.

The OP’s cleaner commands £17.50ph, so that’s what she pays. That you have randomly decided that isn’t enough (and attempted to use it as a stick to beat the OP with) is a total irrelevance.

Uncalled for and nasty.

If you WFH you could check cat locations after cleaner leaves, or better still fit tracker devices to collars to monitor their every movement.
Or do your own cleaning.
Insurance claim would need to be on your own accidental damage insurance (unless it excludes animal damage).

Some really nasty posters on this thread. And some playing fantasy games of Billy not Bollocks with how they wouldn’t dream of paying their cleaner the apparently paltry amount of £17.50ph (that a cleaner charges, they’re not an honesty box on legs), when £20 is better…

Poster: “and what’s your hourly rate?”
Cleaner: “it’s £17.50 per hour.”
Poster: “there simply not enough! I just pay you £20!”
Cleaner: …

I wouldn’t worry about the sofa.

It doesn’t look that bad and if you have cats, you are bound to end up getting scratches on it.

If you’re worried about people judging you when they come around just explain that the cars did it.

I wouldn’t bother getting a brand new one off the insurance because of a few scratches.

I would however, consider whether you want to keep her as your cleaner though if she 100% knew that the cats weren’t allowed in there.

Are you sure she knows they’re not allowed in there?

It is a bit confusing that they’ve got the run of the house apart from 2 rooms and so she made have made a genuine mistake.

Or is it possible they snuck in there and she didn’t realise?

My cat used to do this all of the time and you had to be careful because he’d do it to the garden shed and car too and it was easy to shut him in there without realising.