Confessions of an Estate Agent: 'There was the husband, naked in the bath'

June Isaacs is a partner at Douglas Allen Spiro in Loughton

"You never know what you'll come across when you're viewing a property. I was on an accompanied viewing at a three-storey house owned by a married couple. The wife opened the door. She didn't want to do her own viewing, so I'd come along with the prospective clients, a younger couple. 'Just show them round, feel free,' she said.

"So off we went. Up on the third floor, I did my final bit of chat, then opened the door of the last room, the bathroom. There was the husband, naked in the bath. No bubbles or anything. 'Oh, hello,' he said.

'Er, your wife let me in,' I said.

'Fine,' he said, not fazed in the least. Not that any of us were shocked, but the man seemed positively pleased to see us.

"Another time, I went to an empty house, alone, to check out the property in advance of showing people around. On the living room floor was a corpse. I think it was a tramp; I don't know what he died of, but it was horrible – the face was absolutely black. He must have been there a while. On the other hand, he did at least have his clothes on, which made a change.

"On another occasion, I had a lady customer who was very heavily pregnant, and who was urgently looking to rent before the baby came. I took her to a Victorian property. From the outside, she liked the look of it - but I just couldn't get the key to turn in the front door. So I went around the back, and managed to force open a window. I climbed in without much trouble, but then I had to help this pregnant lady scramble through. We did it eventually, only to find that she didn't like the place at all.

"But she was still very keen to view, so a couple of days later we went along to another Victorian house. Once again, the keys were against me: the front door wouldn't open. Well, I thought, we've escaped injury and liability once, we're not going to try breaking in again.

"So I went around the back to see if the keys would fit there, and was confronted with two damn great Alsatians. I've never made such a quick exit in my life.

"The poor woman was getting desperate by this stage, so a week later we went to yet another property. But no sooner had we pulled up outside the house in my car, than she said, 'I think the baby's coming. What are we going to do?'

"'I suppose the viewing's out of the question,' I said, and we took off for the hospital. I never found the lady a house, but at least I did my bit to help bring a child into the world."

Douglas Allen Spiro, 020-8502 1326