Hi everyone,

As my husband and I both work and have no time for cleaning more, i want to find a cleaning lady. My husband agrees but he is paranoid about giving the house key to a stranger.

Could you give some info about how it works? do we have to leave the key to them or are there other solutions? The problem is the Swiss doors are really strange and have to be locked manually, so the lady can not just leave by closing the door.

If we need to trust anyway, do you know any trusted companies in Kanton Zürich?

I'd leave the keys with a neighbour in my temporary absence.

Yikes. Only one thing worse than strangers going through your stuff. And that's people you know going through your stuff.

My neighbour ( a retiree ) is alright. For managing my spare set of keys, I do her portion of the communal cleaning work ( when I have the time that is ).

I think if you trust someone to be in your home cleaning, then you should be able to trust them with the key too.

Anyway, when my daughter was younger (ca. 13-14) she used to go and walk a dog for an old couple if they were going out for the day. They gave her a milk box key to keep and would deposit the house key in the milk box on the day that she would need it. She would return the house key to the milk box when she left. That worked really well for both of them.

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Just remember that the amount on your credit card is a limit and not a target!!!!!

I have been giving this some thought lately... My postbox has two sections , a locked letter box and what looks like an unlocked parcel section below. I was considering a magnetic key holder placed on underside of the roof of the parcel section, out of sight to all but the opportunistic of observers...

A thief would find that in seconds. They know all the hiding places.

That's the milk box (Milchkasten) that I mentioned in my post. A bit of sticky tape will do, but you should be aware that lots of people do this already, so it's not without risk.

I assume you mean the mail section if she had a key. That's not a bad idea, it means you have more control of your house key and it's easier to replace your mailbox key than door key if it gets lost.


E.T.A. - Though I guess if it's done regularly then thieves might notice it happening and rive open the box.

Yes, I meant the mail section. I thought it was a good solution as they didn't have fixed dates so they could be quite flexible.

True, but a thief can break in anyway. As you can't live in Fort Knox it's more about risk management. What are the chances that a thief is going to look there on the morning the cleaner comes in , and then match that key to your own front door and then get in and out before you or the cleaner turns up ?

You could always use a keypad magnetic holder , or the same drilled into the wall, one where you have to punch in a combination to open it and get the key. Then you only have to give the code to the cleaner...

our cleaning lady has the key of mailbox. She finds the key in the mailbox and leaves it there when she finishes work.

Most people (well, lots of people) have their name on the postbox and the door.

I suppose the issue is if somebody notices you popping something in the box before you wander off down the street. It might pique their criminal curiosity.

We have given our cleaning lady a key. All the neighbours in the block are working so leaving a key with one of them wouldn't work.
Also, we reckoned if the place is turned over with no sign of a forced entry, we can at least narrow it down to either the cleaning lady or the parents in law.

If the key gets left in the mailbox downstairs we wouldn't have a clue who had let themselves in.

Having said that; the apartment looks like it's been burgled most of the time so most opportunists would think someone had beaten them to it anyway...

You need a cleani.... Oh...

We hired a cleaner via a cleaning company and one of the things they do is manage the keys. So the cleaning company office has our key in their key-safe at their office - the cleaner goes to the office, signs out our house key comes round to our place and then has to sign it back in afterwards. It also means if she's on holiday or off sick then someone can cover for her without us having to care about it. Of course, you pay more for such things, and to be honest I would give the cleaner a key directly if we had someone who was personally recommended to us for example.

I give the key to the cleaning lady. She works for me and for some friends, and she stands to loose more that we do in being accused of theft.