Shoes off

[JoJoe1986]

Hello, I'm just about to put my property on the market and wondering if its rude to ask potential buyers to kick off their shoes when going upstairs? We have new carpet which I'm keen to keep clean and in theory it could be in their benefit should they put an offer in? Im nervous to ask as it's an awkward request. Would you be offended?

There's no social situation where being in your underwear is normal, there are many where being barefoot/socked/slippered is.

I can't think of any situation where being in my socks or barefoot would be normal. Except maybe a yoga class? But I wouldn't really class that as a social situation.

I provide those blue shoe covers or people can take their shoes off. I doubt I’m risking any serious viewers by asking.

I don’t get why people are offended by this either way. It’s common knowledge that it’s bad manners in some houses to remove your shoes, and its the opposite in others. You learn this growing up visiting your friends houses.

@premiumshoes even if you had shoe covering?

In special circumstances you can ask the agent to explain to his on client and ask for acceptation? But refusing to view is a shame as you may miss an amazing house!

Maybe you can consider shoe covering.

@isabellerossignol

I wouldn't dream of keeping my shoes on in someone's house but it's amazing how many people I see not bothering.

Well, in my case it's not that I'm 'not bothering' , it's that I'd feel I was being very rude to take my shoes off. I'd feel I was showing respect for your home. In the same way that I wouldn't strip to my underwear and lounge on your sofa.

Same here.

I dislike it when people insist on taking their shoes off when they come I to my house. As someone who was brought up to keep shoes on in the houses of others, it feels overly familiar and rude.

I have doormats and know how to wipe my feet. I am always particularly careful to wipe my feet before I go into someone else’s house.

OP - just provide the plastic over shoe things. Problem solved.

[quote rutabellsum]@premiumshoes even if you had shoe covering?

In special circumstances you can ask the agent to explain to his on client and ask for acceptation? But refusing to view is a shame as you may miss an amazing house!

Maybe you can consider shoe covering. [/quote]

No I said show coverings would be fine. I'm not in the market for a house and answered a hypothetical question before show coverings were mentioned

Could you provide them with cheap shoe covers instead op?

Why would it be rude?

I put my flat on sale recently and all viewers were warned in advance they would have to:

• leave their shoes outside
• wear a mask
• not touch anything in the property

If they did not agree to that, the viewing would not happen.

Like every other MN thread about shoes, this thread is pure gold: it has name-calling, "grim", talk of stripping to underwear, "social conditioning".

but in summer when people don't wear socks, how is it hygienic for people to walk on your carpets barefoot? some would have sweaty feet - yuk!
Shoe covers all the way, if you have cream / new carpets.

Issabellerosingol
How can you not understand that some people have been raised to consider it bad manners to take their shoes off? What is there to not understand?

I am intrigued by this! Which culture views removing the shoes indoors as bad manners? Who knows how many people I've offended by now because I always remove my shoes at the door.😐

I am a shoes off person, wouldn't bother me at all.
Why would you want strangers tramping over a cream carpet?
To me it's a sign of a looked after home.
It really bothers me when people dont at least offer to take their shoes off unless they are elderly/heavily pregnant/mobility issues etc.

@CatAndHisKit

but in summer when people don't wear socks, how is it hygienic for people to walk on your carpets barefoot? some would have sweaty feet - yuk! Shoe covers all the way, if you have cream / new carpets.

Human feet will be no more dirty than human hands or anything else that touches your furnishings (unless you make all of your guests shower on arrival?) Shoes on the other hand have all the filth of the street on them. Much dirtier than feet.

@isabellerossignol

There's no social situation where being in your underwear is normal, there are many where being barefoot/socked/slippered is.

I can't think of any situation where being in my socks or barefoot would be normal. Except maybe a yoga class? But I wouldn't really class that as a social situation.

Normal to be barefoot: Yoga/gymnastics/martial arts/dance/swimming/water sports/many forms of exercise Barefoot walking/running

Spending time on the beach
Relaxing at home alone - barefoot/socks/slippers
Relaxing at friends/families homes - barefoot/socks/slippers.

These are all examples where it would be perfectly normal to be barefoot or in socks/slippers, but not naked. Additionally there are legal restrictions around being naked in public but not around being barefoot, so it's pretty clear that legally, and socially the two things aren't the same.

I'm reasonably confident that if the OP had posted to ask if she was unreasonable to insist that viewers to her house take all their clothes off at the door, she'd have got pretty different responses - don't you? so It's pretty foolish to keep insisting not wearing shoes is the same as being naked. It's clearly not.

so It's pretty foolish to keep insisting not wearing shoes is the same as being naked. It's clearly not.

I didn't say it was like being naked.

But it's not strictly true to say that there is no social convention where wearing shoes is seen as polite. In summer at the seaside, shops have signs up saying that shoes must be worn. There is thread after thread on Mumsnet where people react with horror at a colleague taking their shoes off under their desk. And as I've already said, I don't go barefoot or in socks at friends houses because no one has ever invited me to do so. I know loads of women who don't even wear open toed sandals because they consider it immodest and against their religion, so they certainly don't go wandering around barefoot.

I don't know what to say. I will happily take my shoes off if someone asks me. I have no issue with that, none. But I'm not a mind-reader, I won't do it automatically because it simply wouldn't occur to me on account of how I have been raised to believe that it's incredibly rude. All I'm asking for is for people to understand that.

I can understand both perspectives but what I can't understand is the shoes off brigade being so convinced that their way is the only way and being unnecessarily snotty to anyone with a different perspective.

Mine’s going on the market next week, I have new carpets so have bought shoe covers for viewers to wear

It isn't really the cultural norm to take shoes off in the UK and my job means I visit a lot of houses. If you have muddy feet or are wearing stilettos and the floors are wooden of course you should take your shoes off. Otherwise you should follow the host's lead but even in a shoes off household I would not expect adult visitors to take their shoes off if there wasn't somewhere comfortable to sit whilst doing so and the offer of slippers or overshoes if the visitor preferred not to. We take our shoes off and wear slippers at home . I was also brought up not to take shoes off in other people's houses so I understand all sides of this perennial mn dilemma. To add, I don't think anyone could consider it reasonable to expect elderly relatives to walk in stockinged feet on tiled floors which can very easily be mopped.

I would naturally just take my shoes off without being asked, and when I've had viewings before the estate agents always go to take off their shoes so people viewing normally follow, more often than not I say it's fine you don't need to, but it's your home and asking someone to remove their shoes is fine in my opinion.

Shoe covers for sure. Also, some previous poster said shoes off are not the norm in North America, that's not true, in Canada everyone takes their shoes off, and I mean everyone. And I'm quite sure it's the same in the US. Keeping shoes on is only a british thing w

@Emmmie

I am intrigued by this! Which culture views removing the shoes indoors as bad manners?

In the U.K. shoes off tends to be considered a bit common / nouveau riche. If your wooden floor and knotted carpets are hundreds of years old you’re not going to worry about another pair of shoes walking across them.

Sorry posted too soon

And because shoes off is not a thing, it became considered the height of rudeness to remove them: suggesting a level of familiarly that your host may not have wished to confer

I don't think it's a class thing where I come from. More of an uptight Presbyterian type thing. I'm trying to imagine all the church folk I know sitting round someone's living room for their home group Bible study with their shoes off and it's actually making me smile at the thought of it because I can't visualise it at all. I have been with my husband for over 25 years and have never seen my father in law in anything other than a pair of sensible Clarks shoes, with the exception of when he was at death's door in hospital. My own father was still getting his shoes on every single day until less than a week before he died, even though he had been too ill to leave the house for months. I think not getting shoes on was a big psychological barrier, that when you're not putting your shoes on you are really really ill.

PegasusReturns thank you!

@isabellerossignol it’s totally a class thing.

I know people hate to hear that but it really is.

Shoes on:
The Queen
Emma Thompson
Olivia Colman
Anna Wintour

Shoes Off
Mrs Hinch
Hyacinth Bucket
Rebecca Vardy

[quote PegasusReturns]@Emmmie

I am intrigued by this! Which culture views removing the shoes indoors as bad manners?

In the U.K. shoes off tends to be considered a bit common / nouveau riche. If your wooden floor and knotted carpets are hundreds of years old you’re not going to worry about another pair of shoes walking across them.[/quote]
Oh my god. I had no idea!

I got the habit abroad, from German/Scandi friends. The thought of dog poo and other outdoor germs any more than absolutely necessary on my floors now revolts me. I could never go back. Although I generally don’t insist on guests removing if it is not wet. I have a selection of felt slippers for guests in an emergency!