Estate agent wants a copy of my keys?

[sweetmama11]

I'm in the process of selling my house. I've just had the estate agent round to take photos and they've now gone live and it's listed.

Today, I get a call from the estate agent telling me she needs a key to let herself in when she shows a potential buyer round. I find this kind of alarming. It worries me to give a give a key out that could be stolen or copied or given to anyone. Is this normal? I'm fully aware that I need to be out of the house when the estate agent shows a potential buyer round but I don't see why I need to give them my keys? I'm not a millionaire but I am worried in case anything were to get stolen. Would my insurance be void?

I'm still living in the house with my child. It seems a bit weird for another person to have a key when the house is still occupied.

...Or am I just being paranoid?

Any thoughts appreciated.

I didn't want the estate agent having keys when I was selling as I have a dog and I don't want the agents & viewers entering the house if I'm not there and the dog is.

The estate agent would text/email me to let me know when there was a viewing and I would take the dog out (or to work with me) and leave the key out for the agent.

Worked well.

I also hate when the owners show you round. They point out all manner of shite they think is great and you need to make appreciative noises as you go. It’s so awkward. You either love a house or you don’t. The agents I have dealt with have always always been much more capable and efficient at selling it than any owner who I’ve ever been shown round by,

Owners deep down, always always want you to tell them it’s lovely. They don’t want to hear the kitchen is done in and needs ripping out. Or the gardens a mess, or fuck me that wallpaper obnoxious, or Christ it’s minging in here, what’s that smell, and the windows need replacing. There can be no discussion on the pros and cons.

It’s always why thank you for showing me round your lovely home, we have a couple more to look at, and will get back to the agent.

As you leave all awkward.

There's a bit of a north south divide on the showing round I think. Huge generalisation, lots of exceptions etc etc. I'm in the south and agent viewings are very much the norm but it isn't the same everywhere.

You don't have to give them the keys, as others have said, but if you want to leave the house while the agent does the viewing, then yes it's normal practice to do so. If you want to be present at the start of every viewing to open the door to the agent, you will undo some of the benefit of you vacating for the viewing. If you're not comfortable with it, then do the viewings yourself. Your house, your rules, but with the proviso that viewers are not going to buy a house they can't see. Don't forget they will need good access to the garden too, and if that's through french doors or anything, so much the better so the buyer gets a sense of "flow".

You do bring up a good point re insurance. I'd not considered that before. I suppose we're all in the same boat that a prospective buyer could accidentally damage something or deliberately steal. I mean it wouldn't take too long to slip something into your pocket as you wander around.

We didn’t give ours just arranged to let them in and walked round the block or sat in the car during viewings. It is normal for EA to have keys though - we just knew we would be around all the time as wfh at the moment so no need.

I prefer to be shown around by the owners who can generally answer questions you may have rather than an agent who invariably doesn't know the answers!

It's normal but you don't have to give them keys. I have indoor cats and when I sold my last house I told them I had to be there (or just outside) just to keep an eye they didn't escape, so I always let them in. The estate agent had no issues with it.