House keys

nattybuk

Hey,

Not sure if this belongs here, admin please remove if it’s not relevant.

So we have our first home absolute dream fast forward to December parents rang to tell us the landlord has sold the house they are letting and struggling to find a house that accepts a dog.

We said they could stay with us until they are comfortable financially and find the right house to let again. Roll on this week, mum is back in work and hired a dog walker (I work from home but very busy). They wanted to give the dog walker a set of keys to the house but myself and my partner don’t feel comfortable with this. We have met the dog walker but it’s more something we don’t feel comfortable with.

Are we ok to feel like this or are we overreacting?

davidmcn

Did your parents use a dog walker before with a similar arrangement? What did you think was going to happen with dog-walking?

pinkteapot

How reputable is the dog walker? Were they recommended? Have your parents used them for long?

Until recently we've always had a cleaner and given them a key without a second thought... Sometimes it's been a larger cleaning company, sometimes a sole trader. Have also lent tradespeople keys occasionally.

I would say no big deal, unless it's just some random person who approached your parents yesterday in the park and said they could walk their dog for them.

McKneff

How much of your time would be taken up of your busy day by handing the dog over at the door and taking it back the same way.
Or putting it into the garden a few minutes before the dog walker is due.

need_an_answer

You work from home but are too busy to answer the door to let the dog walker in....sorry that really does sound as if you want to overthink this too much.

nattybuk

They used a dog walker in the past in their rental. They are new to the area (we love 40 miles from their rental) found on Facebook. We discussed no drama letting the dog walker in, like I say I’m home to let them in. We didn’t agree to have multiple keys cut (this goes along with multiple issues where they want to make changes to our house to suit them, which we have stopped).

rach_k

Is it that you don't want somebody walking into your house or that you don't trust them to have keys?

If you don't want somebody coming in, you're going to have to do as suggested above and either hand the dog over yourself or put it outside (do you have a secure garden with street access).

If it's the keys, you could ask your parents to stump up for changing the locks when they leave but it seems like an overreaction to me. If a dog walker was followed around by a string of burglaries where they gained entry with a key, they'd not be in business for very long.

sendu

pinkteapot wrote: »

Until recently we've always had a cleaner and given them a key without a second thought... Sometimes it's been a larger cleaning company, sometimes a sole trader. Have also lent tradespeople keys occasionally.

Hopefully all those people had adequate insurance, including cover for loss of keys and other important things.

I feel like a random person off Facebook might not have insurance. Certainly it should be checked before letting them in the property or giving them keys.

GBNI

I have a dog walker as I work full time, she has a key to my house. On the rare occasion I am working from home, I can take 2 minutes out of my busy day to hand said dogs over #justsaying :'-)

need_an_answer

nattybuk wrote: »

They used a dog walker in the past in their rental. They are new to the area (we love 40 miles from their rental) found on Facebook. We discussed no drama letting the dog walker in, like I say I’m home to let them in. We didn’t agree to have multiple keys cut (this goes along with multiple issues where they want to make changes to our house to suit them, which we have stopped).

so really the issue isn't over whether you issue keys or not to the dog walker,the issue is that maybe you now feel that the parents are taking over your home and tension is rising.

Its probably more of an issue that you need to discuss the living arrangements and the potential of them moving on.

Probably something that you might get some better advice on the families board rather than this one simply because its probably more about how you gently remind them its about finding a new place to live rather than settling themselves into your collective home.

nattybuk

rach_k wrote: »

Is it that you don't want somebody walking into your house or that you don't trust them to have keys?

If you don't want somebody coming in, you're going to have to do as suggested above and either hand the dog over yourself or put it outside (do you have a secure garden with street access).

If it's the keys, you could ask your parents to stump up for changing the locks when they leave but it seems like an overreaction to me. If a dog walker was followed around by a string of burglaries where they gained entry with a key, they'd not be in business for very long.

More so just having someone walking into the house when we’re not their. For instance I work for a large tech company and have prototypes in my office and a very expensive car that’s on the drive when I get the train to the office every so often. Always happy to open the doors and hand the pooch over to the walker.

Mrs doesn’t feel safe with others having keys since her mums was burgled by someone with a key last year. I think because it’s so new to use having our first home, we want to protect it and contents. For me I would loose my job if the prototypes was stolen or leaked and don’t want to constantly unplug everything and put in a wardrobe.