Hoarding and Tenants: What You Need to Know as a Landlord

1. The disorder is characterized by the persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of the value others may attribute to these possessions.
2. The behavior usually has harmful effects—emotional, physical, social, financial, and even legal—for the person suffering from the disorder and family members.
3. For individuals who hoard, the quantity of their collected items sets them apart from people with normal collecting behaviors. They accumulate a large number of possessions that often fill up or clutter active living areas of the home or workplace to the extent that their intended use is no longer possible.

If you didn't already know, The Federal Fair Housing Act was adopted in 1968 and amended in 1988. In short, with regard to renting property, Fair Housing prohibits discrimination based on race, skin color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. There are also extra protection measures for those with disabilities. If one suffers from a physical or mental disability, for example: hearing loss, mobility or visual impairment, chronic mental illness, AIDs, intellectual disability, or chronic alcoholism, landlords MUST allow for "reasonable modifications and/or accommodations" if requested. What is a reasonable modification or accommodation you ask? A perfect example would be allowing a service or guide dog in a building that normally does not allow pets for someone who is blind. By the way, a service animal is not considered a pet. Read more about service animals according the the Americans with Disabilities Act HERE. 

Ok, so obviously there is no database you can use to check and see if a prospective tenant is a hoarder or has an official mental disability; but, what if you are checking references and a previous landlord tells you that Trisha the Tenant is a hoarder?

You can not and should not act on that verbal report alone! You must have true evidence that "Trisha the Tenant" has "posed a direct threat to the health or safety of others or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to property of others." According to federal discrimination laws, those posing such threats to the health and safety of others are not covered or legally protected. 

The Clutter & Housing Pros, a company out of Southern California have been working with individuals struggling with hoarding issues since 1999 and they help them take control and restore their homes. Below is an image of the Clutter-Hoarding Scale according to the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). It illustrates the various levels of clutter, its impact on health and safety and types of necessary interventions.

HOME (Housing Opportunities Made Equal) out of Virginia put together a great Fair Housing and Hoarding Fact Sheet , which talks about "remedy plans" which may include help from support services. They also welcome landlords to call them at 513-721-4663 for advice on how to deal with this issue. As always, documentation is your best friend. As a landlord, you want to do what is right and respectful for everyone involved, while ensuring compliance with Fair Housing law.

Hoardingcleanup.com/Connecticut is a fabulous and very helpful site where resources can be found for help with hoarding from professional cleaning/organization companies, to psychologists/psychiatrists to message boards, support groups, and webinars.\