Hoarding Tenants

Tuesday, January 19 Articles

Lynn Dover, Esq.

Revised January 2016

Resident hoarding can cause significant health and safety problems, both in the resident’s unit and in neighboring units. Hoarding can create pest infestations, mold problems, increased fire risk, interfere with entrance or exit of the unit, or exceed maximum load-bearing floor capacity.

Hoarding is rarely self-reported by the resident. Instead, it is often discovered by maintenance staff making a repair in the resident’s unit or in a neighboring unit. Hoarding can create a problem for surrounding units, such as water intrusion, mold, or a pest invasion in a neighboring unit.

Hoarding is not just a matter of poor housekeeping. In May of 2013, hoarding was listed as an official psychiatric disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Version 5 (“DSM-5”). Hoarding disorder is defined as:

Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with objects, regardless of actual value;
The difficulty discarding is due to a perceived need to save and distress associated with discarding;
The symptoms result in accumulation of possessions that congest and clutter active living areas and substantially compromise their intended use;
Clinically significant distress or interference;
Not attributable to another medical condition; and
Not better accounted for by another DSM-5 disorder.

Residents with hoarding disorder frequently suffer from other psychiatric disorders as well (known as “co-morbidity”). Common co-morbid disorders are: major depressive disorder; general anxiety disorder; social phobia; attention deficit disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Hoarded items may be valuable collectibles, or items that appear to persons without the hoarding issues to be trash… or anything in between. Units can be literally packed, floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall, with just a small path for movement in the unit, although not all hoarding situations rise to this level.

The inclusion of hoarding as an official psychiatric disorder in the DSM-5 confirmed that hoarding is a mental disability. It is important to remember that federal and state fair housing laws protect people with mental disabilities and require landlords to make reasonable accommodations for disabled residents, when such an accommodation is necessary to afford the disabled resident full and equal use and enjoyment of the rental property.

It is rare for residents with hoarding issues to specifically ask the owner or management for an accommodation. Fair housing advocates take the position that before eviction of a mentally disabled resident whose disability is causing the person to violate the terms of the lease/rules, good faith efforts must be made to accommodate the resident’s disability. This generally requires that the resident be given opportunities to come into compliance so that he or she can retain the tenancy.

Examples of potential accommodations include:

Meeting with the resident to identify health and safety issues that need to be addressed in the unit;
Establishing goals and timelines with the resident to address the health and safety issues;
Setting periodic dates for re-inspection of the unit to monitor compliance;
Memorializing the goals, timelines and re-inspections in a written agreement that the resident signs;
Providing the resident with a list of community resources that can assist persons with hoarding issues;
Working with a fair housing and/or mental health advocacy group or attorney assisting the resident to develop a plan to bring the unit into compliance;
Extending time for compliance with a legal notice that has been served or entering into a stipulation in an eviction that gives the resident a final opportunity to address the health and safety issues and retain the tenancy.

When dealing with a hoarding situation, the focus should only be on solving legitimate health and safety issues rather than attempting to achieve ideal housekeeping habits. It should be recognized that even if the resident meets minimum health and safety standards, the unit may not meet your expectations of an “optimal condition.” It is also important to realize that residents with hoarding issues may not recognize they have the problem (or the severity of the problem) or be equipped to resolve the hoarding problem on their own. The inclusion of hoarding disorder in the DSM-5 may make diagnosis and treatment available to more people.

Accommodation may not be required, and termination of the tenancy may be possible, if:

The person is a clear, direct and immediate threat to the health and safety of other residents or the property and there is no accommodation that will eliminate or sufficiently mitigate the health and safety issues;
There are serious health and safety issues that cannot be mitigated through accommodation;
The resident has caused serious monetary damage to the unit and will not reimburse the landlord for the cost to repair the unit; or
The resident will not engage in the accommodation process or cooperate to bring the unit back into compliance.

If health and safety issues are initially resolved, you should be aware that, even with treatment, hoarding disorder has a high rate of recidivism. This means that a resident with hoarding issues may “slip” and re-hoard again the future. Therefore any written agreement made with the resident should include language that provides for periodic unit inspections after the health and safety issues have been remedied and a specified time period for correction of any future health and safety issues.

In conclusion, no two hoarding situations are alike. Each situation involving a resident with hoarding issues requires analysis based on the facts of the particular case. It is advisable to seek legal advice before taking any action to terminate a tenancy if hoarding issues may be involved. If not handled appropriately, it could result in a fair housing complaint being filed against you, the property and the company.

Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP is a full service real estate law firm representing residential and commercial property owners and managers. This article is for general information purposes only. While KTS provides clients with information on legislative changes, our courtesy notifications are not meant to be exhaustive and do not take the place of legislative services or membership in trade associations. Our legal alerts are provided on selected topics and should not be relied upon as a complete report of all new changes of local, state, and federal laws affecting property owners and managers. Laws may have changed since this article was published. Before acting, be sure to receive legal advice from our office. For contact information, please visit our website: www.kts-law.com. For past Legal Alerts, Questions & Answers and Legal Articles, please consult the resource section of our website.