How to deal with a hoarder?

I have a resident who is a hoarder. Not just messy, a true actual hoarder. What suggestions do you have to help me guide my Property Manager on how to deal with this situation with sensitivity but also to resolve it.

Here is a great sheet from the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership - www.mbhp.org/HoardingFHFactSheet.pdf

I hope it helps.

Most rental agreements have statements about allowing for safe access to windows & doors in case of fire. I'd start with a friendly verbal reminder with follow up inspections, then move up to a written non-compliance notice. Follow up again and if the resident is in violation of the terms of their rental agreement, give them a for cause termination.

Good Luck!

The problem is that hoarding is a recognized mental disability. There is a fine balance that must be struck between recognizing this and doing what needs to be done to provide a clean and safe living environment. If the resident lives alone and has family nearby; have the resident come into the office and put the family members on the phone to express your concerns that the resident get help.

There is a large array of health and safety issues that come into play:

1) Pest control is not possible to maintain if the exterminator cannot get in to treat. This is especially problematic if you suspect or know that your property is at risk of bed bug infestation.

2) In the event of a fire or medical emergency; first responders need clear access.

3) If there is a plumbing leak; it could go undetected before mold began to grow.

4) There are obvious tripping hazards for the members of the household.

5) In the event of a malfunctioning electric appliance; this environment can easily be a fire hazard.

I ended up having to evict a resident whose hoarding put the guarantee on the bedbug treatment at risk because this resident could not and would not comply with what was needed. After several weeks; we finally prevailed and had her escorted off the property. When we finally were able to get into the unit and have what was left behind hauled away (2 big dump trucks to the landfill and a crew of 4 took a day and a half); we were able to determine that she did indeed have a bedbug infestation (which she denied).

Get your attorney involved and have him draft a lease violation letter that includes the clauses of the lease that the resident is in violation of. If possible, have him include the city code violations as well. Have it worded in such a way as to include a follow up inspection and if the issue still exists; it will result in legal action leading to eviction.

If your property is like mine was; you may also be able to get Adult Protective Services involved so that the resident gets help and make that assistance an ongoing requirement if the resident is to keep their housing with you.

I hadn't even thought about the disability issue. Thanks for pointing that out Johnny.

I think if they haven't asked for a reasonable accommodation to waive the rules though, they are still bound by and in violation of the rental agreement.

The issue is that since hoarding is a recognized mental disorder; you do need to have a standard response that includes a reasonable accomodation for all cases created and implemented in such a way as to not violate ADA Laws AND Fair Housing. This is why you need to consult with your legal team to determine what you can do and what you cannot based on the needs of your property.

Many state leases have a provision that pertains to housekeeping and health and safety concerns. I've come across a few hoarders and the condition of the apartment created a fire hazard, blocked egresses, and sanitation issues. My first suggestion is to follow procedures outlined in your lease to have the resident correct the issue then follow through with an eviction if they're non-compliant.

The problem is that the responses that many PM companies have in place fail to recognize that hoarding is a recognized mental disability and therefore reasonable accommodations must be considered under ADA law. So, many leases need to have these clauses reworded to reflect this.

To have a standard set of procedures written for the individual property's needs when issues like this arise (like installing a strobe light based smoke/CO detector for someone who has a hearing impairment) that take into account the ADA issue and does not violate fair housing is simply very intelligent and customer oriented. If the same procedure is followed every time; then these issues can be controlled before they become major issues.

Here in Oregon, fair housing laws prohibit offering a standard response that would include a reasonable accommodation. It can only be initiated by request from the disabled person, even if the disability is recognized. This is frustrating because as a manager, when I see someone who is eligible for an accommodation, I'm not permitted to tell them about it, and frequently, they have no idea such a thing even exists.

I know that Fair Housing gets in the way of what should be done in a lot of cases.

Unlike customer service, which is about 'here is what I CAN do for you'; fair housing seems to be about 'This is something I CAN'T do for you; it is also something I am specifically forbidden by law from doing'...

I would consult with your attorney about what strikes a balance that meets your property's needs, the needs of the resident, and the law in your area..... What I am saying is that this issue can be addressed in a manner that does not include lease termination if you were allowed to work with the resident in a fair way.

Reasonable accomodations must be made unless they present an undue financial burden to the owner or affect life/safety issues of the community, i.e., applicant in a wheelchair ask if a large section of wall can be removed to accomodate wheelchair access. Upon maintenance inspection you find the wall is a load bearing wall and cannot be altered. In the case of a hoarder the large amount of 'stuff' filling the apartment presents a fire hazard, allowing a fire to spread faster due to large amounts of easily ignited material, creates a health hazard due to increased opportunity for roach infestations, etc...

I would consider getting a resident assistance to comply with the health and safety issues a reasonable accommodation. I am not saying the property PAY for the assistance (if the provider is not family, a friend, or a neighbor and seeking payment). I am only advocating putting the parties together or finding ways to help the resident so that the resident can remain as independent as possible and not face an eviction action.

Hoarding is not an overnight occurrence. How is that an apartment maintenance/management team gets caught off-guard by this phenomenon? If there is preventative maintenance taking place on schedule each quarter, how is it that it creeps up in your community (other than new acquisitions where you may not have walked every single unit prior to takeover.) I don't mean this to sound stupid. I am curious about this topic. I know when there are residents who don't let you in to perform maintenance inspections, they may be able to get away with this once, but not repeatedly.

One of our properties is located in a city that mandates inspections. Although there have been residents who tried legally to withhold entry, the courts ruled in the city's favor and the inspections were completed. So, please, help me understand how a disabled person can prevent maintenance and/or management from completing preventative maintenance such as changing batteries and inspecting the smoke detectors in all units.

Obviously, if this is a single family or duplex rental, I could see this may happen.

I was not led to believe that the OP noticed this problem as if it was an overnight occurrence. A number of issues can lead into this person just now discovering it:

1) Person new to job with predecessor not documenting known issue.
2) New management company entering unit as part of due diligence and again, the predecessor not documenting the issue.
3) New resident since last inspection/entry for any reason.
4) Existing resident not reporting maintenance issues or allowing any entry for any reason, even when given proper notice (these scare me because I never know what I am going to find; dead body, pest control issues, bedbugs).

The issue is to make sure you document any findings and, even though it may sound stupid; make sure you put copies of all correspondence and notices given to the residents IN THE FILE so that anyone (either in your company, or in the event of legal action; your attorney and/or city ordinance inspectors AND if you are subsidized or affordable, their auditors are going to want to see your files and make sure they are in order and in compliance with whatever program you may be on) can view the files and step in on your behalf.

In the event that legal action may be needed; you need to be able to document what you have done to justify it. In the event that you INHERIT an undocumented issue; you need to establish the documentation and all efforts to resolve the issue.

No, I wasn't implying that the original poster was just now finding this situation overnight or is in any way negligent of her duties. I am just thinking out loud, I guess, as to how these problems seem to creep up on people. Even families ... it is just a sad state that no one sometimes checks on their loved one or perhaps they know and don't want to hurt the person's feelings so they allow the condition to become so bad that someone could die in their surroundings and no one would know. I have watched the A&E show and it leaves me unbearably sad. I had one resident at a property who was immobile. Therefore he literally could not take his trash to the dumpster. But I figured out this problem the first time rent was due (about a week after I came on board) and I was able to get this situation under control very, very quickly. His apartment was full of paper, trash, food, mail, books, dirty clothes, etc. You can imagine. It was also full of ants and roaches. He'd been like this for years and the Maintenance Superintendent knew! I got rid of all the staff pretty quickly, too. I figured if they cared so little about the Residents they would allow those living conditions to fester, they were not the kind of people I wanted onsite. Documentation is vital to the process - true - but caring individuals are also vital.

I know here in Texas the lease states "The apartment and other areas reserved for your private use must be kept clean. Trash must be disposed of at least weekly." I gave a formal lease violation to the last hoarder that I had stating the paragraph of the lease, and he allowed a organizer to come help him get rid of all of the items. If not, he knows that he would have gotten an eviction notice.



Neil Bertrand wrote:

Many state leases have a provision that pertains to housekeeping and health and safety concerns. I've come across a few hoarders and the condition of the apartment created a fire hazard, blocked egresses, and sanitation issues. My first suggestion is to follow procedures outlined in your lease to have the resident correct the issue then follow through with an eviction if they're non-compliant.

I am a little confused on this topic. I see that under Fair Housing Law, hoarding is considered a mental disability. I fail to see how they arrive at that point, but it is clear from the referenced literature. OK, so we accept it as another type of disability. So to me, what must also be accepted would be the disability of the hoarder would over ride the safety laws of living in the unit, if the law allowed them to do that, to continue with the hoarding. You cannot have both.
You cannot allow "hoarding" due to the disability of the tenant, and allow violation of the safety laws at the same time.
Now enter the "reasonable accommodation clause". I would ask you what kind of accommodation could you make for someone doing what you don't allow in your units?
Are you going to build them a shed to accumulate their hoarded items in?
Persons with disabilities are in a protected class, yes. If they are mentally disabled, ie: paranoia, bipolar, etc, they can be dealt with in housing if properly medicated, have a live in caregiver, etc. If a person is a disabled due to hoarding, they need to live in a warehouse or the woods, not public housing.
Require the disabled person to present a "solution" to YOU, not YOU to them.
I would enter the unit and do a thorough inspection with a family member or contact person with me. I would give 48 hours to correct the situation, or an eviction would be warranted. You can take all the actions cited in the posts in this thread.
However in the end, you cannot have both the hoarder syndrome and the well being of your complex at the same time.

I don't think that anyone is suggesting actually allowing a resident's hoarding to continue as a reasonable accomodation (clearly NOT reasonable for so many reasons); it is more with the thought that a reasonable accomodation be in getting assistance in keeping the situation from getting beyond the point of control.

Unfortunately this issue was documented very poorly by previous management. The resident had complied enough to not be evicted. We are at the point again that it apparently has reoccured.

I will be sending a violation of lease based on the condition of the unit and the health and safety hazards it is causing for the resident and possibly to surrounding tenants.

That's exactly what I thought when you made your original post; Aprile... Sadly your predecessors did not have adequate controls in place to document and follow up on the issue and you inherited it.

In this case; I would give the resident the benefit of your predecessor's failures, but make it clear to them that you cannot allow the situation to continue or reoccur. Document this in such a way as to make sure that the resident knows AND UNDERSTANDS the consequences. What I would do is have your attorney create an actual 'housekeeping standards addendum' to your lease package that ALL residents must sign that cites specific city codes and consequences of substandard housekeeping. This way the 'problem' resident does not feel singled out.

I would connect this with a spring cleanup deal and rent out a large rollaway dumpster for a couple of weeks for residents to discard bulky items. If you have a local school that can haul away electronic waste for you and use the proceeds for their programs; then I would involve them. I would also offer a community yard sale as a resident retention activity. Roll out the grill and throw some hot dogs on the grill for the residents and charge $1.00 for non residents for a local charity (make it a homeless shelter or food bank).

There is so much you can do for your residents without being in violation of fair housing.

I wish my apartment was that way. My neighbor is a hoarder and the roaches comes thru the walls into my apartment. The apartment complex knows about it, but nothing is done. unfortunately she has health issues however the hoarding doesn't seem to concern anyone. It drives me crazy. I keep waiting to have more than a roach problem.

What you CAN do, June, as a resident, is ask to transfer to another unit far away from your hoarder neighbor. Give them a choice, fix the problem, transfer you, or you will leave. Be prepared to not only do so, but also alert your local press and the housing authority to the problem.

Wow, Johnny! You would advise a resident to contact the press and housing authority???? Yikes.

I was made aware that you cannot evict a hoarder as it is considered a mental illness! Local governments are still trying to figure out how to handle them!

I don't think that anyone is suggesting actually allowing a resident's hoarding to continue as a reasonable accomodation (clearly NOT reasonable for so many reasons); it is more with the thought that a reasonable accomodation be in getting assistance in keeping the situation from getting beyond the point of control.

^^ I also would think a rule about having doors/windows accessible and including verbiage in lease about home being kept clean of trash/debris and potential fire hazards could help to curb the problem, no?