@Tontostitis
I really didn't think it was this complicated!
I gave him my spare key to be used for the three days he was painting. He was then supposed to leave the key. He did not leave the key. He took the key. This might have been an accident, and at no point during his tidying up, packing his van and leaving did he realise he still had the key, but judging by his reply to my query of where he had left it, it very much sounds like he took it on purpose. This is not the equivalent of you giving your coat to the hairdresser and them giving it back when you ask; this is the equivalent of the hairdresser taking your coat when you're having your haircut, and then when you notice and ask where it is, being told they have it. When you point out you need it, they say they'll drop it off at some point in the next couple of days. Once you've paid. You then have to leave without your coat, trusting that they will hopefully return it. Other than it 's not your coat, it's the key to your house.
Or to use the other analogy - it's like going to the Tesco checkout and handing over your clubcard. The cashier scans the clubcard, then pockets it and tells you you'll get it back sometime in the next couple of days. Once you've paid. With the additional underlying threat that if you don't pay, they'll come into your house and damage it. Despite you never having given them any indication that you are either unwilling or unable to pay.
And at the moment it is an empty house. Which could nevertheless be damaged by a weird, vengeful painter. And in a few weeks, it will no longer be an empty house, it will be a house with me in it. I'm not some mad millionaire who just buys random houses, gets them painted and then leaves them empty. Though I was more concerned about the perceived threat of what he would do if I was unhappy with the work, I nonetheless don't want this horrid little man having access to my home.
And for the last bloody time - I HAVE PAID HIM! And since I have paid his ransom, he has kindly agreed to relinquish his hostage. Tomorrow. At his convenience. He does know I want to give it to the floorer tomorrow, so I suppose I just have to wait and hope he deigns to return it in time 🤞
Anyway night all - I genuinely am grateful for the advice to change the locks, I will certainly be doing so once I've stopped handing out keys willy-nilly to strange men. Hopefully before I've annoyed any of them so much they go in and smash the place up! Now excited to see if flooring man also kidnaps my stuff...