Landlords want to avoid many issues, like bad plumbing, a leaky roof, or a tenant whose Harley-Davidson needs a muffler. Add to the list a tenant who hoards possessions (maybe even pets) to the point the unit is unsafe, unsanitary, and creates problems for other tenants. You can be proactive to lessen this risk or address the issue before it becomes a crisis.
What is Hoarding?
A hoarding disorder is being reluctant or unable to throw away or part with possessions to the point that they become a detriment to one’s life. This isn’t being messy or disorganized. It’s potentially filling personal space to the point that a home becomes a giant storage unit, not so much a place to live, according to the Mayo Clinic. The person may not recognize their problem and fail to understand why others want them to change.
What Causes Hoarding?
There’s no definitive cause, and people may hoard for different reasons. Hoarding often starts during the teenage years and can worsen with time. Risk factors include:
- They have difficulty making decisions and have problems with problem-solving, attention, and organization
- Someone growing up with a family member who hoards is more likely to do it themselves later in life
- Hoarding may start after a stressful life event they have difficulty coping with, like a loved one’s death, a divorce, or losing possessions in a traumatic event like a flood or fire
Estimates vary, but National Geographic reports that as many as one in forty people have some level of hoarding disorder. If that’s accurate, given California’s population, nearly a million such people may live here.
How Can Hoarding Impact the Property?
Depending on what’s being kept and how much, a hoarding tenant may:
- Damage the property
- Block emergency exits
- Make it difficult for people, including first responders, to enter, move around, or exit the property
- Interfere with sprinkler or ventilation systems
- Improperly storing food or other perishable items to the point it creates odors or attracts insects or rodents to the point it makes the unit, and surrounding ones, uninhabitable
- House animals in a way that breaks local ordinances, state law, or your lease agreement
You should address the situation early to prevent these things from happening.
What Laws are Related to a Tenant Hoarding Things in Their Unit?
California landlord-tenant law states in part that a tenant must keep their unit clean and sanitary by disposing of rubbish and other waste. State criminal law defines “public nuisance” as:
“Anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property…by any considerable number of persons…”
Under state law, it’s a crime to:
“Each person who maintains, permits, or allows a public nuisance to exist upon his or her property or premises, and each person occupying or leasing the property or premises of another who maintains, permits, or allows a public nuisance to exist on the property, after reasonable notice in writing from a health officer, district attorney, city attorney, or city prosecutor to remove, discontinue, or abate the public nuisance has been served upon the person, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
A landlord who knows a tenant’s creating a public nuisance but looks the other way or charges more rent to allow it could be seen as a party who “…permits, or allows a public nuisance to exist upon his or her property or premises…” and be charged if they fail to clean it up after given a written notice from a health or public safety officer.
How Should I Deal With This Situation?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Your lease agreement should prohibit the actions that constitute hoarding and make it clear that violating these obligations can be grounds for eviction.
In addition to a tenant’s statutory obligations, you can include some in your lease agreement. They can include language to the effect that the tenant must:
- Keep the unit clean and sanitary
- Not use the property as storage
- Report any bugs or vermin in the unit
- Clean out the unit as instructed by the landlord or their agents
If they don’t, the lease could state it could be grounds for an eviction, with the tenant responsible for clean-up costs. If, after the tenancy starts, so does the hoarding, like any other tenant issue, you need to do three things:
- Document
- Document
- Document
This means keeping copies of communications, taking photos, and making videos. Make notes of any conversations you have. This is all potential evidence for possible legal action.
Fair housing laws protect those with emotional or psychological disabilities. Someone who hoards may have obsessive-compulsive disorder and may not want the lease or law enforced as a reasonable accommodation. But that’s not how the law works.
You have a legal obligation to reasonably accommodate a disabled tenant, but not if the requested accommodation would result in a direct threat to the safety or health of others or substantial property damage, unless the requested accommodation would eliminate or significantly reduce that threat.
Your accommodation may be to give them more time to clean out the unit. You might also work with a local mental health agency or organization to help your tenant clean out the unit and get the person treatment so they can live without surrounding themselves with useless stuff.
We’re Here to Help
If you have questions about hoarding, what you can do to prevent it, and your options if it happens in one of your units, call the AWB Law PC team at (949) 244-4207 or complete our online contact form today. We can discuss the situation, how state laws may apply, and how best to proceed.
