I'm not sure whether my current tenant is a hoarder or not. On my last visit, there was stuff EVERYWHERE. It was more or less organized in boxes, crates, and cabinets, but I couldn't even open one bedroom door fully. The hallway was lined with boxes. I had only given the tenant 3 days notice that I was coming, and she was a little irritated and told me that she was in the process of organizing stuff.

When we did the 2-minute in-home inspection, her place was also full of stuff, but my assistant chalked it up to her being in the process of packing up to move. It's not "junk" like stacks of magazines, empty boxes, and trash, so I'm not sure whether she's a "hoarder" and I need to be concerned. I know she runs a decorating/hostessing business on the side, so maybe the stuff is from that?

The house is very clean, just full, full, FULL of stuff. She lives alone and has filled up three bedrooms plus part of the basement. She is meticulous about paying her rent on time.

I sent her a letter instructing her that the hallways needed to have the full clearance side to side, and that I needed to be able to access the smoke detectors in the bedrooms to test them. Would you be concerned, or would you let sleeping dogs lie?

I think you have the right approach. Set some guidelines based around safety and access, but don't be too strict, not everyone is a neat freak. Make sure things like registers are not covered too...need airflow to prevent mildew and other issues. There is a difference between crowded and dirty...as long as things are clean where there's not food wrappers and empty pizza boxes I'd give some leeway.

We had a tenant that tried to use a large but probably unused sunroom for a storage unit: emptied a commercial unit and stored tons of stuff in the sun room. Just masses of stuff (very large room!)

I issued a Breach of Lease Notice to Cure which said the house was to be used for RESIDENTIAL LIVING PURPOSES ONLY, not commercial or storage. I gave them 30 days instead of the usual 5 on such notices. They couldn't argue it wasn't storage given they had just told us they emptied their storage unit, so they complied and got another unit.

Purchased a couple of rentals with a Hoarder as a tenant. Learned a lot from those experiences.

First I needed to know if items they were storing were safe or posed a danger for my other tenants in this apartment complex. So I posted a 24 hour notice of inspection, listing I was bring in experts to determine the hidden dangers of "Hoarding". The tenant had several metal 5 gallon cans filled with gasoline, not designed to house flammable materials. My attorney gave the tenant 5 days to Comply or Quit. I reported this tenant to Housing, Health Department and the Fire Department.

The thanks I got was I was being held liable by the City for allowing the Hoarding to happen. They didn't know I was the new owner and took immediate steps to resolve this issue. We went to a hearing where my attorney had to call out the City/County department for not doing their job, the prior owner had warned them too.

That sounds like a Stage One hoarder - clean, not much trash, but tons of stuff. I had a strange family like that in a sfh - the walls were lined with stuff, but nothing important was blocked, and the house was otherwise very clean. Still, they had some oddball complaints over the 1.5 years they were there, and I was not sad to see them go. They paid an extra $200 for holding over one night (they offered), provided that I dispose of some stuff in the garage - clean, gently used toys and bikes (yes, I looked first). I agreed, and had fun giving the toys and bikes to local families with kids and not much money.

Robin,

The 2 Minute In Home Visit proved correct!

Any chance she is running a business like selling on ebay?

There are several categories of hoarders. Sounds like she is an "OCD collector/saver".

Or she's like me...I HATE taking time to sift thru piles to toss outdated stuff! Does not earn me a PENNY! Everything had a reason when I stacked it and might still have some value to my business.

I'd rather go buy another house than clean up!

I agree - clear halls and doors, esp exits and smoke detectors.

The good news - your carpet has never been walked on!

PS

If anyone has been watching YouTube lately there is a growing trend for people to buy crates of returns and resell them either online or do yard sales.

Hulu has made a show like Storage Wars about it called EXTREME UNBOXING.

These folks have garages FULL of stuff.

Here's MY concern...People like my helper tried and has stuff stacked to the gills in his spare bedroom - lost interest in selling it. "Too much work".

BRAD

Carpet, Brad? You should know me better than that!