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So a friend goes out of town on a usual basis and has handed me his keys in case I need to manage incoming and outgoing packages when he's away. He has also said that I can crash when he's away.

I am happy to help him! But I am worried of the legality of being in possession of his keys. What if something happens, am I liable because I have a set of keys.

Thanks

John
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    Liable for what? There are many possibilities of things that could happen, from it exploding and demolishing a neighbour's house, to debt collectors looking to repossess stuff, to robbery or vandalism, and much more. Are you worried about your friend suing you if something bad happens, or something else? – Stuart F Sep 21 '22 at 15:23
  • Yes, I'm worried about him suing me for anything accidental happening when both of us are away and we're not the cause of it. – John Sep 21 '22 at 19:43

1 Answers1

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You aren't liable unless you do something stupid with them.

Possessing keys doesn't make you the owner, it makes you someone with keys.

That said, we could probably come up with negligent things you could do that would be a problem. Like have a huge heroin party (let's assume this is a thing) filled with minors in the back yard. The family of an overdosed kid would have a good action against you personally for being so negligent, and also probably against the homeowner and their insurance as the property owner. If the party turned wild and the house burned down, the owner would likely have good action against you as well. I doubt this is really a problem for you, so there's no need to worry.

Tiger Guy
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  • Thank you for the answer! My question is more related to if the place gets damaged accidently or robbed when neither of us is there and he blames me because I simply have the keys. – John Sep 21 '22 at 19:37
  • @John, again, just be normal and you are fine. – Tiger Guy Sep 21 '22 at 22:14
  • @John You could get blamed is something goes wrong. If you are provably at fault for having caused it, you probably do have liability. The mere fact that you have the keys if you do nothing wrong only makes you one suspect among many if, for example, something is missing or broken when the friend gets back, which might require you to explain that you did nothing wrong. – ohwilleke Sep 21 '22 at 23:16