Should I ask for my spare key back after my neighbour used it to close a window?
Neighbours“I shut your bedroom window for you,” my neighbour said when I got home. “It was banging in the wind.”
She has my spare key because I sometimes travel, and we agreed she could use it to water plants on those trips or in an emergency. This time I was at work. She heard the window banging from her garden, texted me, then let herself in ten minutes later when I hadn't replied.
Nothing was missing or moved apart from the window. She was trying to help. I still felt uncomfortable knowing she had been in my bedroom during an ordinary workday. When I said I would rather she wait for an answer, she replied, “What if the glass had broken?”
I had left the window open, and I can understand why the noise worried her. We never discussed whether a noisy window counts as an emergency. I don't want our conversation to become an argument about damage that didn't happen.
I leave for a four-day trip next month. If I take the key back, I will need to arrange somebody else to water the plants, and she will probably understand it as a loss of trust. If I leave things as they are, “I was helping” may be the answer the next time she goes in.
Would a clearer agreement be enough after one well-meant mistake, or is it reasonable to end the key arrangement while still thanking her for looking out for the house?