Is it safe to let a cleaner into your home when you're not there?

Key facts

What "bonded and insured" actually means

It is the most-used phrase in this industry and the least understood. They are two separate things and you want both.

Liability insurance covers accidents: a cleaner knocks a television off a stand, cracks a marble counter with a dropped bottle, or slips on your floor and is injured. Without it, damage in your home and an injury to an uninsured worker in your home can both end up as your problem.

A surety bond, sometimes called a janitorial or fidelity bond, covers theft by the company's employees. Insurance does not. A company can be genuinely, fully insured and still leave you with no recourse if something goes missing, which is exactly why the two words are always said together and rarely explained.

The test is simple: ask for the certificate of insurance. A company that carries it will email it, often the same day, and will not treat the request as an insult. Buildings in Brickell, Downtown, Sunny Isles and Miami Beach usually demand the same document before a vendor gets past the lobby, so any company working in high-rises has it ready.

The checks worth actually making

Florida does not license house cleaners, so anyone can print business cards. The paper trail that does exist is easy to check and rules out most of the risk.

• A Miami-Dade Business Tax Receipt, which every business operating in the county needs
• An active registration on Sunbiz, the state's free corporate database, with a real principal address
• A certificate of insurance naming the company, sent to you directly
• Confirmation that the company is bonded, not just insured
• A straight answer to "who will be in my home, and were they background-checked?" Vagueness here usually means subcontracted or gig labour
• Reviews somewhere the company does not control, read for recency and for how it responds to complaints
• Whether you get the same cleaner each visit; consistency is a security feature as much as a quality one

Cameras: what Florida law allows

Recording video inside your own home in common areas, a living room or a hallway or a kitchen, is generally lawful in Florida. Bathrooms and any space where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy are not, and that includes a room where a worker might change.

Audio is the trap. Florida is an all-party consent state under Fla. Stat. 934.03: recording an oral communication without the consent of everyone involved is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years. A doorbell camera or an indoor camera with the microphone on, capturing a cleaner's phone call or a conversation between two cleaners, is exactly the situation the statute covers. The safe configuration is video on, audio off.

Etiquette is separate from legality. Telling a cleaner that cameras are running costs you nothing, is what most professionals expect, and removes the accusation of surveillance from a relationship that runs on trust. Companies that background-check their staff generally have no objection.

Sensible precautions that are not accusations

Putting cash, jewellery, medication and documents away before a visit is standard practice, and no professional cleaner reads it as distrust. It also protects the cleaner: the most common theft accusation in this trade involves something that was never missing, and a locked drawer prevents the conversation entirely.

If something genuinely does go missing, report it to the company in writing and to the police. A bonded company has a claims process for exactly this. A company that responds by telling you it must have been misplaced is telling you something about how it will handle the next problem too.

Related questions

Sources

• Chapter 934.03 — Interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications — The Florida Senate (All-party consent requirement for recording oral communications)
• Should hired household help be bonded and insured? — Insurance.com
• Search Records — Division of Corporations — Sunbiz (Florida Department of State) (Free lookup for Florida business registrations)

Figures are quoted from the sources above and were current when this page was last reviewed. Prices move, and tax thresholds and statutes are amended, so check the source before relying on a number.

Related reading

• How do you give a cleaner feedback or let them go? — How to tell a cleaner something was missed without wrecking the relationship, what a real satisfaction guarantee looks like, and how to end the arrangement well.
• How to Choose a Cleaning Service in Miami — How to choose the best cleaning service in Miami: the licensing, insurance, background checks and guarantees to verify before handing over your keys.
• Should I tidy before the cleaner arrives? — What to do before your first house cleaning visit: tidy or not, whether to be home, supplies, pets, valuables and access. A practical first-timer checklist.