Can I Trust a Cat Sitter With My House Keys? What to Check First
Here’s a small confession from years of doing this job: new clients are usually more nervous about the keys than the cat. Which is entirely rational — your cat can’t be burgled. So let’s treat the question seriously: what does trustworthy key handling actually look like, and how do you check for it before you hand anything over?
The checks that actually mean something
Trust shouldn’t be a vibe — it should be verifiable. Before giving anyone a key, you’re entitled to see:
A DBS check. This is the standard UK police background check. It’s not a guarantee of character, but it’s a baseline any professional should clear and be happy to show. Every member of our team holds a current certificate.
Insurance — with key cover implied by the number. Public liability insurance is what stands behind a professional if anything goes wrong in your home. Ask for the figure, not just “fully insured”. We carry £5 million public liability cover and will show the certificate to anyone who asks.
A face-to-face meeting first. Keys should change hands at a proper meet and greet in your home — never posted, never left under a plant pot for a stranger you’ve spoken to twice on Facebook. (Here’s what happens at ours.)
Reviews with history. Look for a consistent trail of named, local reviews over time. One glowing testimonial is easy; years of them aren’t.
Ask how your key will be stored
A professional should have a confident, specific answer to “where does my key live when you’re not using it?” What you want to hear: stored securely, and never labelled with your name or address — so that even in the worst case of loss or theft, the key is useless to anyone who finds it. What you don’t want to hear: “on a hook by my door with your address on the fob”.
Ask, too, who else ever has access to the key. With us the answer is simple: our team, nobody else, ever.
The key can actually make your home safer
Counterintuitive but true: a home with a daily cat-sitting visit is better protected than one sitting empty for a fortnight. Every visit, we bring in the post and parcels, open and close curtains, switch lights on or off, and do a security check of the property — so the house reads as occupied to anyone paying unwelcome attention. Burglars look for the signs of absence; a good sitter erases them daily. Your cat is the reason we’re there, but your home gets guarded as a side effect.
Why many clients never take their key back
A detail that says a lot: many of our clients, after a first booking, simply leave a spare key with us permanently. It means next time they book — or the time a work trip appears with two days’ notice — there’s no handover to arrange at all. Key collection is complimentary with us either way, but the permanent-spare arrangement only happens when trust has been earned, and we’re quietly proud of how often it does.
The bottom line
You’re not being paranoid by taking keys seriously — you’re being a responsible homeowner, and any genuine professional will respect the questions rather than bristle at them. DBS, real insurance with a number attached, a proper handover, specific answers about storage: check those four and you can hand the key over with a steady hand.
If you’re weighing this up in Didsbury, Chorlton, Withington or nearby, come and interrogate us in person — the meet and greet is free, and we’ll bring the paperwork.
Need a cat sitter in South Manchester?
Wendy covers Didsbury, Chorlton, Withington, Whalley Range, Fallowfield and surrounding areas. Professional, insured, and DBS checked.