One of more first experiences with hoarding was when I managed a apartment building in Northridge, California. It was about six months after the infamous Northridge Quake and I had to schedule inspections for all the units. I had this one tenant, a gentlemen in his late 30s, who absolutely would not allow us into his unit.  Eventually we had to essentially force an inspection and what we found was astonishing. A two bedroom unit stuffed to the rafters with collectibles, junk, trash, garbage. 

It took another two months of eviction proceedings to get that tenant out of his unit and weeks of hoarders junk removal and cleaning before that apartment in Northridge was fit to live in. 

So what do you do when you have a tenant that is a hoarder? First and foremost, inspect frequently and make sure your tenant is clear on the fact that hoarding is unacceptable. It’s harsh to say but tenants who hoard often don’t respond to mere suggestions that they should clean up. Oftentimes hoarders will only respond to threats of eviction. 

If you have a tenant that is hoarding and will not clean up you need to evict them immediately. Hoarding can do irreparable harm to an apartment unit if it isn’t dealt with.