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?

Personally I feel that if having certain doors closed permanently is so important to you, then you should have closing mechanisms fitted to them

Otherwise - they are YOUR cats and they were the ones who physically caused the damage. YABU to expect the cleaner to cover the cost of the sofa repair

You'd think I'd know this after ten years!

She's a cleaner. She isn't paid to herd cats.

Does she actually have insurance that would cover damage caused to your property? I've never heard of a cleaning having that but would be interested to know if that's a common thing

@slithytoveisascientist what other reasons would you require her to keep doors closed?

The only doors I have closed when the cleaner is here are ones that she doesn't need to open (door to the room the cats are in & walk in wardrobes) I then go round and close any windows or doors that have been open while she was here and the cats were in their room and close where necessary before letting the cats out.

I guess I see the cats whereabouts as my responsibility, rather than that of my cleaner

The cleaners insurance... which is there to cover damage

but yes I agree about the door mechanism and someone has recommended one to install

I've been a cleaner and I don't think my insurance would of covered this. It would of covered accidental damage or damage caused by my negligence. So if I cleaned your sofa with an unsuitable product and it was ruined then that would be covered.

The cause of the damage in this case is your cats, I'd suggest putting them somewhere out the way when the cleaner is in.

Maybe you clean room by room but if you are cleaning a whole property you often do it by tasks, so I'd dust all the downstairs rooms, empty all the bins, clean all the internal windows, then do any downstairs bathroom/ kitchen , hoover the whole ground floor and then mop my way out the door. Doing it room by room takes longer.

Yes, as I said, I believe you. But an insurance company is going to require more proof than that, and probably would just totally discount the whole thing anyway because the damage was done by your cats and not by your cleaner.

The thing about asking her to keep the doors closed is that she has to open them to get cleaning equipment in and out. And if the cats are free to roam in the corridor outside the living room, then there was always a chance they would get in. And yes, again I believe you when you say it would be normal for them to be hiding in the garage while she cleans.

So asking her to shut the door when she’s done cleaning is reasonable. Assuming she will remember is less reasonable. Also if sometimes there is a second cleaner, you’re assuming that message has been passed on and remembered. All this with no visual reminder like a sign on the door. She should have closed the door. But forgetting to is an extremely minor mistake.

Blaming her for the damage your cats did because she forget to close an interior door is not reasonable.

yes it was in the terms I signed, professional indemnity and public liability
damage, accidental damage and a heap of other stuff

she didn't have to herd them btw, just shut a door

They do seem to do it room by room however the living room was only hoovered and dusted this week as it's not been used

I don't disagree that she should have closed the door.

But the reason you want the door closed is because you don't want your cats going in the room - so I think the onus is on you to prevent that happening, not her. Get an automatic closer for the door so that if she forgets to shut it, the cats can't get in.

1. It’s completely unreasonable to expect a cleaner to be keeping cats out of rooms when she’s cleaning them unless the cats are shut away in another room somewhere.
2. You should have asked her not to clean the two rooms the cats can’t go. Do those rooms yourself.
3. You are very cruel for keeping cats inside. Anyone who actually loves cats will only get one of there is lots of green land nearby and they are allowed out for daytimes at least. Keeping a cat shut inside your house permanent is no quality of life for a cat.

A few weeks ago I asked them to keep DD room shut as I had the window wide open, was airing it out after painting. Though in that instance I also asked them not to clean it so maybe easier to remember.

also when the dehumidifier is on we shut the door, windows for other reasons, painting. Lots of reasons to close doors in my house apparently!

I think it is reasonable to expect your cleaner to close the door when asked. But this is a slightly separate issue form attempting to claim on her insurance which is totally unreasonable. If the cleaner scratched your sofa, you would have a case.

You have cats but they are not allowed into your living room?
WTF?!
I worked as homing officer for Cats Protection for five years and no rescue would ever home a cat to someone like you.
Poor cats. Fuck your sofa
Feel sorry for your cleaner too

Agreed

I've reminded her again
I will lock them away
the thought of a sign is HORRIBLE but maybe that as well

plus when I can get the auto closers that will be great

quadrant of solutions

But, as you say, not cleaning a room means not having to go into it, therefore no reason to open the door, let alone close it.

I don't know, I guess because I put my cats in 1 room when our cleaner is here, and then go round to check doors/windows are closed before letting them out, I don't see why you can't do the same

Read the thread

Please do claim on her insurance, and do make sure you post both the claim and the insurers response on here.

I will be from now on.

I am also disappointed that in order to do that, I now HAVE to be here every time she cleans. Not ideal for either of us.

I do think she should shut the doors and not open windows. Thats not unreasonable.

She could actually shut all the doors, that would be great. and easier to remember.

Basic business insurance for cleaning is actually really cheap ( I assume it's not often claimed on). It was about £20 a month for a really high level of public liability insurance (amillion quid or something) then much lower amounts for accidental damage/ negligent damage there was a fairly hefty excess £200/ £500. I cleaned holiday cottages for three years and didn't make a claim. I'm pretty sure you had to be registered as self employed/ have a cleaning business though so you are unlikely to be insured if working cash in hand.

The only time I've heard of a cleaner making a claim was when her hoover burst into flames and plastic melted damaging the carpet.

Agree re insurance but many MANY posters have criticised the door closing request.

Oh wow, why wouldn't you rehome to someone like me? What do the cats need that they dont have?

I think the onus on you is to put the cats away while she cleans. It would be much easier to contain them in one room under your control rather than the higher risk option of relying on her re doors. Even if she was massively careful, there’s still a chance the cats would get in. Also think you’d be unreasonable re the insurance point as ultimately your cats and your responsibility even if she should have closed the door.

Cleaners need to open windows for ventilation purposes. It’s a health and safety issue.
It’s not unreasonable to expect them to close all the windows and lock the front door/any other exterior doors they may have opened before leaving - although perhaps not if you are at home. Interior doors is a different kettle of fish. Cleaners clean lots of houses. (Yes, stating the obvious) For the absolute basic safety stuff like closing windows and locking the front door it’s reasonable to expect them to get it right every time without fail. For stuff that’s really specific to your house, like closing some interior doors so the cats can’t get in - it’s reasonable to ask but it’s not reasonable to expect perfect execution every single time, particularly if it isn’t written down somewhere obvious and is only given as a verbal instruction. Doubly so if it was given as a verbal instruction some time ago and never repeated. Getting it wrong occasionally merits a reminder, and if possible a change of your system, which is what you’ve done now.

A ´No cats allowed. Please keep closed’ sign on your living room door is not a stupid idea at all. If you think it looks a bit crap, well, you might have to weigh that up against the look of a scratched up leather sofa.
I can see it’s annoying that you can’t trust the cleaners to clean when you’re not there. But I think you need to reframe it. It’s not because they cleaners are untrustworthy or crap. It’s because you have (untrainable) pets and also rooms where those pets are not allowed to go in containing expensive furniture. It’s a your-circumstances problem and not a problem with the cleaning company.

It's not that it looks crap it feels really passive aggressive and demonstrates I dont trust them. I want to trust them.