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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cleaner has cost me £1600

231 replies

Bootsybugs22 · 08/01/2025 19:47

I was out of the country for two days and my regular ckeaner (for 5 months) went in to clean whilst I was away. She letnherself in via a back door key left in a safe place. Our decking is really slippy so I said if she needed to go in and out she coulds use the front door once she was in. I text her to say the front door keys were square yale , labelled and in a key pot in the hall.

We have a front modern door to the porch and an older wooden self locking door from porch to house.

She called me whilst away to say she was locked in the porch because the keys i left didn't fit the door. She had picked up some other keys out the fruit bowl in the kitchen.

I called a locksmith. In the meantime she called back and said that stressful situations increase her risk of a seizure (she's epileptic) and I needed to get her out now. So I called my neighbour and asked them to force the rear back paito door. This is because the cleaner had passed the keys she had through the letterbox and one of them was for the rear patio door but not the main opener. So the neighbour tried to force the secondary door open as it could be unlocked. Anyway door got broken in the process.

Locksmith arrived. Drilled the lock, got her out, fitted a new lock. But before he'd arrived the door had been damaged by the neighbour (I gave them permission to force the door)

Today I paid the locksmith £85. Had a man round to quote on repair of the door (£1500 for new set of doors.... not repairable).

I messaged the cleaner and asked if she had insurance. She's now blocked me on WhatsApp but messaged me separately on normal text messaging to say she cancelled her insurance last year when she got her epilepsy diagnosis (why?!).

I'm at a total loss. AIBU that I want SOME recompense even if uts £85?

OP posts:
Examconfusion · 08/01/2025 20:27

Oodlesandoodlesofnoodles · 08/01/2025 20:22

Couldn’t you just have cut her a set of keys? We don’t have a cleaner at the moment but when we did they had their own set. Would you have been insured if a burglar let themselves in with keys they found in a safe place?

Edited

Don’t do this. It can invalidate your own home insurance!

OP, I’m sorry this happened but you’ll have to chalk it up to experience - but you should see if you can claim on your own insurance.

Obviously don’t have this cleaner back; she wasn’t making your life easier and wasn’t even reliable. Once you’ve earned a little money back try and find someone better, a good cleaner really will be worth it. Good luck

GlasgowGal82 · 08/01/2025 20:27

You should have cut a set of keys for your cleaner, and if you knew your decking created a health and safety risk in the winter those keys should have been for the front door. It's a shame your cleaner didn't have insurance, but I expect the cost of it leapt up when she was diagnosed with epilepsy and she's probably not earning very much. You told your neighbour to force entry and therefore the cost of fixing that is on you. I also think the cost of the locksmith is on you because it's your home and she was your employee so you had a duty of care to her.

TheOccupier · 08/01/2025 20:27

Could the cleaner not have passed her back door key out through the front porch letter box to the neighbour so that they could have gone around the back and let themself in the back door to rescue her? I think this is on you, you chose to let the neighbour break the door.

niadainud · 08/01/2025 20:30

Unfortunately people are shit at following instructions. You can say, please pick up item A, carry out task B with it and leave it in location C, and they will somehow manage to pick up item X, carry out task Y and put it in location Z - or take it away with them. Yes, I speak from experience.

blubberyboo · 08/01/2025 20:30

Why on earth did you have a porch that allows someone to be locked in the middle?

That's fucking dangerous in a fire or medical emergency and you should be thankful that you aren't looking at a corporate manslaughter charge.

Fix your bloody door , pay for it yourself and make it safe!

DeffoNeedANameChange · 08/01/2025 20:30

When she said she cancelled her insurance when she got her epilepsy diagnosis, she probably meant the premium went up too much to be feasible.

I don't really think this situation is anyone's "fault". You could say that you wouldn't have this bill if she'd never gone round in the first place, but she could say that this would never have happened if you had just a standard front door with one key (and if you hadn't left a random extra set of keys in the kitchen)

Pinetreethree · 08/01/2025 20:31

blubberyboo · 08/01/2025 20:30

Why on earth did you have a porch that allows someone to be locked in the middle?

That's fucking dangerous in a fire or medical emergency and you should be thankful that you aren't looking at a corporate manslaughter charge.

Fix your bloody door , pay for it yourself and make it safe!

OP could never have been found guilty of corporate manslaughter as an individual.

Healthanxietyisshit · 08/01/2025 20:32

This door situation does sound unnecessarily dangerous. What would she have done if she didn't have her phone?

sandyhappypeople · 08/01/2025 20:32

Your porch setup sounds similar to ours (yale lock inner door and we have a UPVC door as the outer door) so if on leaving, you pull the yale lock door shut behind you without having the keys to the outer door you are essentially trapped in the porch (or the airlock as we call it).

The stupidity of someone who would pull the inner door locked behind them without actually checking they had the correct keys to get out is astounding!! Why on earth would she not check first?!!

Unfortunately it was actually the neighbour who damaged the doors, with your permission so I don't think you should be pursuing the cleaner for the insurance claim anyway, she didn't actually cause any damage and in hindsight it would have been cheaper to break a window, but you would have needed someone there to wait for the repairer.

I think you should definitely sack her, but not chase her for payment, it was obviously a mistake on her part, which started the chain of events, home insurance will be the way to go.

Original poster
Bootsybugs22 · 08/01/2025 20:32

BeMellowOchreZebra · 08/01/2025 20:25

So she didn't follow your instructions, picked up the wrong keys to the front door, then managed to get trapped between the front door and the self locking porch door?

So where were the keys to the porch door? On the same key ring as the front door one?

She should be paying for this as the only reason you got the neighbour to rescue her is because she told you that it would cause her to have an epileptic episode. It's not your fault she had her insurance cancelled.

Claim on your own insurance and then they can claim off her?

I really regret agreeing to a clean when I was away. She offered it and I said no don't worry and she said you'll come home to a clean house so I agreed. I should have trusted my gut. She doesn't have a set of keys because I am here.

The keys weren't complicated it was quite clear where the keys were. She picked up an unrelated set of keys in a different room that I hadn't told her about and weren't labelled.

But there's lots of regrets. I wish I'd never had a cleaner, never agreed to a clean whilst I was away, not panicked and just got someone to get her out ASAP, I was so worried she'd be trapped and have a seizure, I obviously don't react well in an emergency situation.

Thank you everybody for your comments. Lessons learnt! Xx

OP posts:
Crazybaby123 · 08/01/2025 20:33

Imagine if she didn't have her phone and was stuck in the porch without her medication, food and water for a few days. I woukd just suck this one up and be glad she doesnt try and claim some damages. It doesnt sound like anyones fault really, just bad planning and misunderstanding.

Original poster
Bootsybugs22 · 08/01/2025 20:33

sandyhappypeople · 08/01/2025 20:32

Your porch setup sounds similar to ours (yale lock inner door and we have a UPVC door as the outer door) so if on leaving, you pull the yale lock door shut behind you without having the keys to the outer door you are essentially trapped in the porch (or the airlock as we call it).

The stupidity of someone who would pull the inner door locked behind them without actually checking they had the correct keys to get out is astounding!! Why on earth would she not check first?!!

Unfortunately it was actually the neighbour who damaged the doors, with your permission so I don't think you should be pursuing the cleaner for the insurance claim anyway, she didn't actually cause any damage and in hindsight it would have been cheaper to break a window, but you would have needed someone there to wait for the repairer.

I think you should definitely sack her, but not chase her for payment, it was obviously a mistake on her part, which started the chain of events, home insurance will be the way to go.

This is the conclusion I have also come to. I have to take responsibility for the door as it was my instruction caused the damage.
Thanks for understanding the door set up because that's exactly how it is! X

OP posts:
MumblesParty · 08/01/2025 20:36

You can definitely claim this on your own home insurance OP. I know it’s not ideal, but it will save you a lot of money.
I wouldn’t be using this cleaner again though. Her lack of insurance is too risky, even if you’re usually around.

blubberyboo · 08/01/2025 20:37

Pinetreethree · 08/01/2025 20:31

OP could never have been found guilty of corporate manslaughter as an individual.

Show quote history

Hardly the point- but would she really have lived with herself to find a burnt trapped body in her porch? Or a medical event that would have cause someone to claim on her home insurance.

People need to be able to get out in a fire and if OP has people in her house she needs to make sure the escape routes are there

AmusedGoose · 08/01/2025 20:37

I would use an agency in future. Her insurance probably wouldn't cover the bizarre circumstances anyway.

Craftymam · 08/01/2025 20:38

God we used to have one of these porches. I locked myself in once. Realised if I did that in a fire we would all die. You need to put a key safe in the porch. But I am sure you have thought of that now.

No advice on the cleaner. It’s shit she’s not got insurance. But I don’t know whether her insurance would pay for that anyway.

Onlyvisiting · 08/01/2025 20:39

I think this is on you.
But importantly- you need to fix it so it's not possible to accidentally lock yourself in the porch.
If she hadn't had her phone on her this could have ended very differently. And she's not the only one, all you have to do is go into the porch for something yourself without your keys on you and the door blow shut and you are trapped? That's an accident waiting to happen.

CG90 · 08/01/2025 20:40

That’s a shame op, typical the door can’t be repaired! I don’t think you’d be able to claim
on your home insurance, there’s no insured peril the situation would come under.

Hope you get it sorted one way or another x

IkeaJesusChrist · 08/01/2025 20:42

It's an odd set-up but also the cleaner sounds thick.

I'd chalk this up to experience.

DreamW3aver · 08/01/2025 20:43

blubberyboo · 08/01/2025 20:30

Why on earth did you have a porch that allows someone to be locked in the middle?

That's fucking dangerous in a fire or medical emergency and you should be thankful that you aren't looking at a corporate manslaughter charge.

Fix your bloody door , pay for it yourself and make it safe!

Perhaps weirdly I actually know of two people who ended up stuck in similar situations so I think its probably a not uncommon set up. It was pre mobile phones and they had to wait until someone came back home

EasternStandard · 08/01/2025 20:43

TheOccupier · 08/01/2025 20:27

Could the cleaner not have passed her back door key out through the front porch letter box to the neighbour so that they could have gone around the back and let themself in the back door to rescue her? I think this is on you, you chose to let the neighbour break the door.

This could have worked but maybe the cleaner left the back door key in the house

Op I don’t think you’ll get any money. Sounds so stressful all round

Getbackinthebox · 08/01/2025 20:44

She has perhaps never had insurance but legally she is supposed to have it as a self employed person working in other people's homes! However, given all that happened, even if she had insurance I suspect the insurance company would be trying to argue she wasn't liable and put the blame on you. It is a difficult situation I can see. You would be better off finding a different cleaner, especially now you know she doesn't have insurance.

itsgettingweird · 08/01/2025 20:45

I bet when she was diagnosed her insurance went through the roof due to lone working and that's why she cancelled it?

I agree about your own home insurance.

Sounds like one of those really unfortunate situations where there's no real blame - an expensive accident!

WishinAndHopin · 08/01/2025 20:48

It was entirely the cleaner's fault. She was thick enough to pick up the wrong keys and lock herself in the porch. She made a huge fuss and claimed being locked in the porch might cause her a seizure, forcing a dramatic rescue rather than calmly waiting a little bit for a locksmith.

As someone with epilepsy, if she was that sensitive she wouldn't be able to work! She's well enough to work on her own in your house completely unsupervised, so she was in no particular extra danger in your porch.

She's cost you a small fortune. However, I don't think you'll get any money out of her as ultimately you gave the go ahead to break the door. You'll have to chalk it up to experience and hire someone more reliable and less stupid next time.

FedUp2025 · 08/01/2025 20:48

Viviennemary · 08/01/2025 20:02

I think you should try your own home insurance. Your key system sounds really complicated. And this coming in one door and going out another is a bit if a recipe for disaster.

This