Compulsive Apartment Hoarders

Hoarding Syndrome in Apartments

Apartment hoarding has been a well known issue within the property rental community for years.  The popular television series, “Hoarders” on A&E has shed a lot of light on this topic recently.  The show follows the lives of individuals who engage in compulsive hoarding and films the personal crisis they have to deal with as a result.

What is hoarding?  Hoarding a.k.a. disposophobia, is a mental disorder that inhibits a person’s ability to discard or use a significant number of possessions even if they have no worth, are unsanitary, or hazardous.  The keeping of these possessions becomes an obsession for these people and a hole that can’t be dug out of.  Here is a prime example of a Houston Apartment Hoarder who loves Whataburger.  You can see from the images in the prior link that hoarding can turn into a health concern if it gets out of hand.  Those funny smells coming from your neighbor’s apartment might not be their cooking.

The mess that accumulates from hoarding in apartments can be a nightmare for property managers.  Whether it’s piles of books blocking the fire exits or stinky old food seeping into the walls, the acts of these pack rats can lead to big problems in terms of safety or being able to lease out a unit to the next tenant.  I have heard horror stories from leasing agents at Houston Apartments who have literally gagged from the smell when investigating a complaint of a suspected hoarder.  Some of the more sanitary apartment hoarders who collect clothes and paper items wouldn’t stand a chance if a fire broke out.

Everyone’ s heard of the crazy cat lady in Unit B right?  Animal Hoarding in apartments is a specific type of hoarding that is often joked about, but really is a serious matter.  Typically, apartments in Houston have restrictions on how many pets you’re allowed to have.  Some apartments, like Hogg Palace Lofts apartments in Downtown Houston, don’t allow any pets.  Regardless of the rules on pets some people still decide to house 20 cats or 10 dogs.  In my opinion, this is worse than hoarding simple material possessions or trash.  If you can’t take care of an animal you shouldn’t own one, period.  Apartment renters who have an exorbitant number of pets truly need to take a step back and ask themselves if they really can afford the time and money involved in taking care of additional pets.

In summation, hoarding really is a debilitating mental disease.  For those that suffer from this disease, an enormous amount of stress is experienced in their lives and the lives of people close to them.  Unfortunately, pathological hoarding is one of the hardest diseases to manage because it’s actually a hardwired way of thinking in the brain.  If you know someone who hoards be patient with them and offer them help before it gets out of control.  For more information on compulsive hoarding see the International OCD Foundation.

By Adam Shrum

Constant cluttering may be due to a disorder called "compulsive hoarding" which causes people to become anxious when making decision about whether to keep something or throw it out

Compulsive Apartment Hoarding