Do your neighbors have keys to your house?

[Sun]

The unlocked houses thread got me wondering. Do you all share keys with your neighbors? Do you have keys to their houses and vice versa? What if you are baking cookies and realize you're out of partway through the recipe? Would you use your key to let yourself into a neighbor's house to borrow an egg? Would you mind if they did this?

 

Poll is coming.

[amy g.]

Yes.

[Mrs Mungo]

The unlocked houses thread got me wondering. Do you all share keys with your neighbors? Do you have keys to their houses and vice versa?

 

We have a friend in the neighborhood who has our key and vice versa, but not random neighbors.

 

What if you are baking cookies and realize you're out of partway through the recipe? Would you use your key to let yourself into a neighbor's house to borrow an egg?

 

No, I would never do that.

 

Would you mind if they did this?

 

I wouldn't be mad, but I would find it weird.

[Sophia]

We have keys to two of our neighbor's houses, but we would never let ourselves in unless they specifically called and asked us to enter their home (which they have done.)

We have not given keys to any of our neighbors because we have family that lives close by and they have keys.

 

Both of these families~one is a couple in their 50's, the other in their 20's~regularly lock themselves out of their homes, lol.

I think that's the main reason they gave us a key.

[higginszoo]

Yes. One neighbor has keys to my house. Another neighbor has keys to HER house and knows where she keeps the keys to my house, so she could get them if the other neighbor wasn't home. When both neighbors are gone the key-keeper neighbor provides keys to both other houses so that my dd can care for the animals at the other houses (all we have are fish ... well, and as of recently, some worms and crickets and pill bugs in my dd's science experiment). As to the borrowing, I'd probably text first and ask permission that way. I know that one neighbor has used the other's oven on a holiday when her oven broke.

[Canadianmumof5]

We have a friend in the neighborhood who has our key and vice versa, but not random neighbors.

 

 

 

No, I would never do that.

 

 

 

I wouldn't be mad, but I would find it weird.

 

This. Exactly.

[QueenCat]

Two of my neighbors have our key, and vice-versa. With one of them, I would go in to borrow, but haven't. She has come in to borrow while I was out. The first time, she called my cell & asked, and I told her to feel free anytime, but to please let the dog out while she was in there :) She's come in 2-3 more times, and left a note. Note that we are really close, and spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever together if we aren't going out of town to visit family.

[Lara in Colo]

I have a key to my neighbors house, I frequently take care of her cats while she is out of town. There has been an occasion where I used her key to borrow something while she was gone, I did call and ask first.

 

 

She doesn't have a key to my house (there hasn't been a reason) but if she borrowed something, I wouldn't be upset.

I would expect her to call first, I may not have what she needed, or she may not know where I keep it (yes even eggs are in the garage fridge)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes. And I have keys to a number of my neighbor's houses including a couple who do not have mine. I only use them when they ask me specifically to feed an animal while they are gone or some other such task. And I'm taking care of one neighbor's house for the next 2 years while they are out of the country.

[Dustybug]

One set of neighbors has a key to our house, but only because they are our landlords. :001_smile:

[shellinaryals]

I live in a small town and almost everyone in town knows where we live and because my husband and I run a soccer business out of our home, I have no clue how many coaches or parents have come into my house.

 

My neighbors and I all very close, I haven't had that in all neighborhoods, but we are blessed to have developed almost a family relationship with ours.

[lionfamily1999]

I'm starting to wonder if there's a B&E TWTM Hsing group.

 

:lol:

[Desert Rat]

I voted No, no one has my keys and I have no one's. HOWEVER, my parents live 2 blocks away. We do have each other's keys and I do go over and borrow stuff when they aren't home. They come over here and get things for my boys if they are watching them and I'm not home.

I voted the way I did because this is not a typical neighbor relationship. These are people I grew up with. LOL And I used to live in that house and I still clean that house, so it's kinda sorta mine, too. :)

[AngieC]

I have the key to one neighbor's house and they have the key to ours. I would never go in their house without their approval first. They have come into ours to use some things we have, but I told them ahead of time that they were welcome to do that (and they always call first).

[MariannNOVA]

I voted --

 

I don't have a key, no one in our neighborhood has ours (my dd31 does - she lives 10 minutes away).

 

I would not go into anyone's house unless I were caring for a pet.

 

I do have a neighbor, however, who will gladly come and chop down your privacy hedge without your asking her.:glare:

[TeacherZee]

I don't have any neighbours keys nor does anyone have mine. I don't even know my neighbours.

 

My parents however do have keys for several neighbours. They live in a place with many summer homes and several of the neighbours have asked them to keep an eye on their place, turn the heat on if they are coming in the winter and so on. In return we borrow chairs (and once mattresses) for our annual friends and family gathering :D. We would never borrow anything else though.

[Tap]

We do not have keys, nor do they. On specific occasions, neighbors have my garage code and have gone into my house, after they called and got my permission.

 

I have had neighbors leave a key with my if they needed something done while they were going away. ie Expecting a delivery or repair man.

 

I do have keys to a few peoples homes, but not neighbors. We have our own key to a friends vacation home as we use it more than they do.

 

I would never go into a person's home without their permission. It sounds like a good way to get shot by an unsuspecting homeowner. (ie maybe their car is in the shop and I only think they are not home).

[NanceXToo]

We have exchanged keys with relatives, not "neighbors." And if we did have a neighbor's key, we would never go into their house for any reason barring outright emergency or pet care. And if one of my neighbors had a key to m house, I'd be horrified if I found out they came into my house for any reason barring outright emergency or pet care.

[sassenach]

We have swapped keys with 2 neighbors. I would NEVER consider entering one of their homes without explicit permission or an emergency. I expect the same.

[ChiMomNP]

No. We only know our neighbors enough to say "hello" as we pass one another in the driveways. I don't even remember their names.

[Forget-Me-Not]

We live three doors away from my parents. We have keys and garage codes for each others houses. I go let their dog out on the days they are both at work, and they wouldn't care if I went in and bummed an egg or something. They'll usually call and ask before they go into our house for anything, but I don't mind if they do. We collect mail and/or feed animals if the other one is out of town. In fact, we're both going out of town at the same time this spring and I'm slightly panicked wondering what I'm going to do about all that stuff, LOL.

Edited January 11, 2012 by LemonPie

[Pippen]

I have keys to my neighbor's house because I watch her pets when she's away. I have permission to enter without her knowing if I ever feel like walking her dog when she's away at work. I also have a friend's key as she is single and wants someone to have a backup key in case of an emergency. I feel free to go in without her knowing to leave a meal in her fridge or something along those lines. I'd never let myself in to borrow something without her knowing.

 

No one has our key but a few friends have our garage keypad number.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

No neighbors have keys, but MIL who lives about 1 mile away and another friend who lives a few streets away both have keys.

[Myeightkiddies]

My neighbors and I do not have each other's keys.

 

When I was in my early 20s, neighbors became aware of my talent of breaking into my home when I locked my keys inside. Once word spread, I would get phone calls from neighbors during the day asking if I would break into their home and take the chicken out of the freezer, let the dog out back, etc. One neighbor went on a trip and asked if I would bring in her mail - just break in when I needed to do so.

 

Thankfully no one was ever robbed but it was funny at the time.

[Parrothead]

The unlocked houses thread got me wondering. Do you all share keys with your neighbors?

No. I don't even have a key to my house. We have one key. Dh has it on his ring.

 

Do you have keys to their houses and vice versa?

No, but I did when she was in the hospital.

 

What if you are baking cookies and realize you're out of partway through the recipe?

I'd have to go to the store.

 

Would you use your key to let yourself into a neighbor's house to borrow an egg?

No.

 

Would you mind if they did this?

Only one neighbor would be able to do this and me not find it weird. All the rest would get the cops called on them.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I don't have any neighbor's keys and they don't have mine. I have left a key with a trusted neighbor when we were gone on vacation. I would never enter anyone's house without their expressed permission. I certainly would be most bothered by someone letting themselves into my house to borrow something (other than my business partner.) We are fortunate enough to live close enough to a store that a quick trip would be fairly easy.

[NicAnn]

No way. My neighbor is an wife abusing drug dealer that we regularly call the cops on. My other neighbor is a single mom with a full time job who spends most of her time at her fiances house, so we don't know her very well.

 

If I had decent neighbors that I liked, I would consider giving them a key, but I wouldn't want them in my house when I wasn't there. It would be for emergencies only.

[Laura in MI]

Two of our neighbors have a key to our house and vise versa, they're more then just my neighbors though, they're my bestfriends and have been since I was a kid!

 

I wouldn't go into their house for an egg, but I wouldn't care if either of them came into my house for whatever reason. :001_smile:

[JennMcNeal23]

My neighbors do have keys to my house. I would definitely mind if they let themselves in to borrow and egg without asking first. However, if they asked, I would be fine with it. I think it is important to have good neighbors you can trust. We have exchanged keys and have been in one anothers houses without us being there but, never would this be done without permission. That is strange on TOO many levels.

[SueinNC]

I voted "other options". No one has keys to the house we live in. But, we have an out of state house where the nearest neighbor and family friends that live 15 minutes away have keys to. They both keep an eye on the place for us. Both families have permission to enter the house, shed, and fish in the (completely private) lake. They have permission to use the boats too. FWIW, I completely trust both these families.

[SueinNC]

I voted --

 

I do have a neighbor, however, who will gladly come and chop down your privacy hedge without your asking her.:glare:

 

:lol::lol:

[Daisy]

Two neighbors have given us keys to their houses. We watch the pets of one neighbor on a fairly regular basis and the other routinely locks himself out of the house (absent-minded professor).

 

We don't have multiple copies of the key to our house. We have one extra and we leave it with whichever neighbor is watching our animals when we are on vacation. The key stays here the vast majority of the time.

 

We would NEVER go inside a neighbor's house without their permission. The absent-minded professor has often called and asked us to put his FedEx in his house or whatever, but we'd never just WALK in. Wow.

 

And we are friends with all our neighbors so it isn't like complete strangers are key-swapping.

[MathGirl]

We have our neighbors' key and they have ours but we are best friends and specifically built houses next to each other. We watch their pets when they are out of town but I would never go into their house to borrow anything. If it were truly important, I would call them first and ask.

[Unicorn.]

We have a key outside, and my best friends know where to find it if they need in. I wouldn't go into someone's house w/out good reason- borrowing an egg is not a good enough reason. I did have to call a friend who was meeting us at a campground, and ask her to pick my meds I had forgotten.

[Splinter]

My parents and my sister live in my neighbourhood, so I have their keys and they have mine.

 

Also, our next door neighbours are a very old couple (late 80s, I think) and I have a key to their house in case anything happens. They have a key to ours, in case one of my kids arrives home before me and doesn't have a key. They're always home, and I prefer that to keeping a key in the mailbox.

[*Lulu*]

While our immediate neighbors do not have our keys, I have several family members in our neighborhood that do have access to our home. I also have access to theirs, but my mom's house I'd the only one that everyone comes and goes from at will. in my family we all have been guilty at one time or another of "shopping at mom's". I do not have close relationships with anyone in my neighborhood that isn't family, so it is different for me.

[Amy in NH]

We've lived here 4+ years and haven't ever met our neighbors. They live a mile away in each direction. But we have friends who we've told where we keep the spare key.

[Danestress]

My back door has a code entry on it so that I can't lock myself out of my house. My neighbors probably know the code - or if they don't, I would tell them. I know many of my neighbors' codes (most of them have garage door entry pad that are coded). In most cases, I have this information because my children are occasionally asked to walk their dogs when they are away.

 

I would be annoyed if someone let themselves into my house to borrow an egg. It's not that I mind the loss of an egg, but I would be ashamed if my house were in a state of dishevel if they did so. Most of my neighbors have help to keep the houses clean, but I choose not to, and then feel embarrassed about the little messes.

 

But anyway, I trust a dozen or so neighbors enough to give them the passcode. More, really. It's just stuff, and I have no reason not to trust my neighbors. I have none who are scary.

[Ellie]

My across-the-street neighbor and I have each other's keys. We trade off pet sitting. And once we were gone for the day and I'd left my garage door open. She called my cell and asked if I'd meant to do that, which of course I had not, so she went over and closed the door. :-)

[Tarreymere]

No neighbors have our keys, but a couple of our adult kids who live in the area have our keys. If my sister-in-law lived in our area she would have our keys.

I really don't want anyone in my house when I'm not there, mostly because I don't want them to see any messes! But hey, if that egg was crucial, okay.

[tmulcahy]

Two of my neighbors have keys to my house. I would only go into their house to borrow an egg or some other item if I called and asked first or if I were house sitting/pet sitting for them during that time. I would not mind if my friend/neighbor came into my house to borrow something when I was not home. The two people that have keys are two of my dearest friends and have been for about 9 years.

[TravelingChris]

Not over here. In VA we had our neighbors key- my dd was their pet sitter- and they had our key so when someone forgot the key, they could get in. We don;t have that here. I hope to meet more neighbors this spring.

[MamaT]

I have keys to two neighbors, and they have mine. They are also good friends of mine, and our kids are good friends. They have borrowed things when they were pet sitting for me, but I don't see either of them randomly coming in to borrow something and I wouldn't either.

 

Two of my 18yo son's friends have keys - they are like family and they both call me mom. Sometimes I come home and find one of them here (usually raiding the refrigerator).

[Kari C in SC]

Okay, my neighbors have keys but ONLY because they are family - dh's brother. None of us lock our doors and we do borrow things like eggs on occasion.

 

We will be locking our doors soon though. My adopted nephew that murdered my sister-in-law is set to get out of prison soon. DH wants me to be locking doors behind me. Scary world we live in.

[Lady Florida.]

We hold keys to one neighbor's and they hold ours when one of us goes away for any length of time. Usually it's for bringing in mail, or checking on the cats. No one has a key to keep though. We used to have an older couple next door who were snowbirds, and we had a key to their house for the 6 months they spent up north. We always gave it back when they came home.