Just discovered we live next door to a hoarder - What to do?

[FaLaLaLaLaaaar]

This post makes me sound like a pearl-clutching nosey neighbour, but I honestly don’t know what to do!

We recently moved into a new semi-detached home. Our neighbours to the right (not the one we are attached to) have always been quite pleasant and friendly. They’re a couple in their mid fifties and we often see him going to work, but she stays home.

They always keep their curtains closed, so their house always looks dark and you’d never know they were home.

Whilst popping out to the car earlier, I noticed their living room curtains were open (they don’t have any nets) and a light bulb was on, so I could see straight in. I WAS SO SHOCKED! Their entire living room is piled high to the light bulb with boxes and magazines! Every single space was full and some had fallen down. I am guessing their cat must have pulled the curtains down as god know how they would’ve got to them to open them!

DH said when he was trimming our trees he saw in from the garden and their dining room and kitchen appear to be in similar conditions. I’m assuming this means every room in their house must be like this too.

What should we do? I don’t want to get them in any trouble, but this is a massive fire hazard and although we are not attached to them, I do worry about the amount of flammable materials in there.

So do we just ignore this and do nothing?

Or should we call the fire brigade or something?

@flowersforbrains

What do you mean, what should we do? It's none of your business.

Crikey, what a busy body.

This.

@AuntyBumBum

How is it a fire risk? My home is full of highly flammable material - wooden floorboards and joists to start with. Just having flammable material in your house is not dangerous. If the electrics aren't safe their house may burn down. But so would yours if yours weren't. Theirs will just burn for longer.

Having large amounts of stored combustible materials adds to the "fire loading" of a building and increases the risk from fire if a fire should start. At work, as the fire safety officer, I used to liaise closely with the fire department and fire-risk consultants in order to manage the fire safety of the buildings I worked in. The contents of every room and every cupboard impact on the results of the fire risk assessment. If someone is storing vast amounts of paper in the downstairs rooms of their home and a fire started (perhaps due to an electrical fault, as often happens with house fires) then there would be an awful lot of fuel to keep the fire going. The fire would rapidly take hold and could very quickly cut off the escape route for the upstairs occupants. That is why huge stacks of magazines are deemed to be a fire hazard.

I've read your posts and not the full thread so sorry if someone has said this already.

The fire service in our area does free 'safe and well' checks for vulnerable people. They give advice, free smoke alarms & free fire retardant spray treatments to the property where appropriate. They would also welcome the intel on a vulnerable address so they can prioritise a call in that area appropriately and risk manage an incident to keep their officers safe. Some areas also have specialist hoarding support services but this is rare.

Engagement with this support will all be based on your neighbours consenting. Hoarding is a complex MH issue, often rooted in trauma, many hoarders will not welcome interference even if it's coming from a good and kind place.

You won't get them 'in trouble' they're not committing a crime and UK law around capacity (ie when someone is allowed to step in an make a decision for another adult) is (IMO) really good. So, if they want to they'll simply continue living their lives. You will then just have to live with your worry or move on.

It's not your business and you should leave them alone.

There is nothing you really can do. Their house, their lives, their business. My dad is a metre reader and he often sees houses like this.

Someone else has suggested befriending them and offering support. You could try doing that but ultimately you have to live and let live.

*meter not metre

Firstly, thank you for all your replies. Some of them are heartbreaking and I’m sorry that the relatives/friends of hoarders have had to live through that.

Secondly, to clear up a few points:

• The front of the house looks tidy, no visible rubbish, but it clearly hasn’t been painted in years. I am not worried about the outside appearance.
• the garden is slightly messy, but no pile sir rubbish or places for rats to hide.
• I have no idea how bad the internal hoarding is (so don’t know about rats or human waste) as I’m basing this off just seeing in the living room and DH describing the back of the house (kitchen and dining room) also being piled high with boxes and papers.
• they only have the one at that we know of, so I do t think they’re animal hoarding.
• No, this is not just a house with a ‘usual’ amount of stuff in.
• the curtains in the upstairs bedroom windows are also always closed, so I am assuming the upstairs rooms are the same, but don’t know for sure. This is just an assumption.
• I don’t know if she ever leaves the house, he has a job. They only have one vehicle and he goes off to work in it. I assume she does, but have not been spying so can’t confirm this.
• I assume their house is owned, not council.
• I don’t know if the house they are attached to are aware of the hoarding.
• I am not going to post an anonymous note, call the police or start spying on them.

DH thinks we should do nothing, which is the easiest option, I am leaning towards the fire brigade, then leaving it up to them if they want to act. It feels like I’d be passing the responsibility on then and I admit I like not having to feel guilty if anything happens.

I have some experience of this. My mum is a compulsive shopper and hoarder. She recently moved from her 4 bedroom house into a small retirement flat. The task of clearing her house for sale fell to me. It was a mammoth job. Amongst other things there were over 50 unopened cross stitch kits, 5 bin bags of unused wool, over 100 unopened pairs of tights and stockings, over 40 unused umbrellas, literally hundreds of egg cups, over 50 of the little pencils from ikea, food dated use by 1994, 10 year old unopened cheddar cheese. Nothing was organised. It all got shoved in the nearest cupboard or drawer or thrown into boxes and crates and when one room was to full to enter she moved on to the next room. She ended up living in one bedroom shuttling between there and the kitchen because there wasn't a liveable space anywhere in the house. She slept on threadbare old sheets and used hokey towels whilst there were boxes and boxes of brand new packaged bedding/towels etc stashed in various places because she bought so much stuff she couldn't remember what she had. In the end all she kept were a very few basic necessities for bedroom, bathroom and kitchen plus her photos and 3 ornaments out of a display cabinet that contained well over 250 items.

Bit of a rant there because it's an emotive subject for me. The sheer obscene waste of money and stuff horrified me. It also sucked up 3 months of my life organising for charities to collect some things and shuttling backwards and forwards to the dump. It is clearly indicative of some emotional/mental issue but it was her money and her choice. It isn't illegal to hoard stuff. She is now doing exactly the same thing in her beautiful new flat and there is nothing I can do to stop her. I'm just grateful she now only has two rooms to fill, not 8 rooms, an attic, a garage and several sheds. As long as she has mental capacity she can buy and keep whatever she wants - just like your neighbours.

So I don't think there is anything you can do OP but keep being a pleasant neighbour. Don't let their problems become your problems.

There isn't anything you can do. My neighbour was like this and the neighbour on the other side phoned social services because she was worried about mould spores getting into her house.

Social services did go round but were given short shrift by the hoarder neighbour.

@AuntyBumBum

How is it a fire risk? My home is full of highly flammable material - wooden floorboards and joists to start with. Just having flammable material in your house is not dangerous. If the electrics aren't safe their house may burn down. But so would yours if yours weren't. Theirs will just burn for longer.

@AuntyBumBum

The house is no more likely to have a fire, but, if there is a fire, then (1) it may be more difficult to get out and (2) more to burn

What should you do? Nothing, leave them alone! It's a bit weird to be so concerned/interested when it's absolutely none of your business.

I would talk to the fire service and ignore those who tell you to mind your own business
The house is attached to yours which makes it your business.

I have actually seen a fire in a mid terrace property owned by a hoarder in London. Lightening struck an overhead telephone wire and blew out a BT junction box taking out most of the street. Unfortunately her connection was the old fashioned variety and the wire was run in down the front of the building and in via a window. The house went up very quickly and it was pure fluke the flames were seen within minutes. Even still the fire brigade struggled for access and to put it out.

No one had any idea other than she was rather a shy timid lady who never had guests but went out to work and visited other people. The house was crammed with books and other paper materials.

The fire service will do a safety check and hopefully let you know if there is a serious risk. In the meantime, smoke alarms etc

@OhGiveUp

Is that you Mr Treebus?

At least Mr Trebus had some kind neighbours who befriended him and helped out

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams the house isn't attached to hers though - she's just had a nosey, been officially shocked/horrified and is wondering if she should stick her oar in. As many, many other people have pointed out, if her neighbour is a hoarder it's a serious mental health issue and having a busy body stranger sticking their nose in won't help at all. I have a good friend of many years with hoarding tendencies and the only time any progress has ever been made was when she asked for help. Any unsolicited offers of help or 'helpful' suggestions or folk not minding their own business only ever made her feel worse and therefore things became worse.

Do absolutely nothing, not your house, not your issue.

If the fire brigade or anyone starts coming around, they will likely be able to work out it was you if you are the newest neighbour. This could cause a neighbour dispute which could make it hard to sell your house if you so wanted to in the future.

Unless you were Mike from Haringey council, then you got his walking stick wrapped round your head 😂 @Derxa

Be relieved that you aren't related to them!

@OhGiveUp

Unless you were Mike from Haringey council, then you got his walking stick wrapped round your head 😂 *@Derxa*

Fire risk is real as seen in this article regarding a death in County Durham
www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10436805.fire-brigade-team-up-with-housing-association-to-prevent-hoarding-related-fires/

Also, here is the County Durham multi agency hoarding toolkit which is pretty comprehensive in the approach the agencies try to take - and respectful of the hoarder themselves. There are some images in the toolkit @FaLaLaLaLaaaar which may be a guide compared to what you've previously seen
www.safeguardingdurhamadults.info/media/10924/Hoarding-Toolkit/pdf/Hoarding_Toolkit.pdf

If a hoard is cleared, a hoarder will make another hoard.

But a visit from the Fire Service could save your neighbour from burning to death.

I know three hoarders. Hoarding is very common. The level of people having no access to water and cooking facilities is at the extreme end.
For example, the lower level hoarder I know has a perfectly normal living room, kitchen, bathroom and hall. If you are a casual visitor you would not know there is an issue. But other rooms are totally crammed full of stuff, mainly her dead parent's belongings. She has said for years she is trying through these, but there is very little change.
Another close friend who is a hoarder is able to access bathroom and kitchen perfectly fine, no issues with food or vermin. But there are now pathways to the sofa and back door with things piled up either side.
I have had experience of helping someone clear their hoard, and they just rehoard. It is not an easy thing to do anything about.
Yes you can make a referral to social services for vulnerable people, but the issue will have to be worse for adults than simply stuff piled up. For example not being able to wash or use the toilet, signs of vermin, dangerous levels of piled belongings. Even then, if the person has capacity, it will be about advice i.e. this is what you need to do. It wont actually tackle the issue.
Hoarding is not always books and papers. What seems more common is people hoarding dead relatives possessions, or buying lots of useful things like clothes, bedding, etc but far too much. This seems very common with people who have experienced terrible poverty and never want to run out of basic things again. So they buy them while they have the money, with the idea they are there for bad times again. But for most those bad times never come, but they keep buying.

Jesus Christ leave them alone 😀 People live different ways and plus you might open up a rabbit hole you don't want to go down.

OP. People are here are being rude to you. Your neighbours mess is a fire hazard, which can put your family at risk. Not to mention high chances of rats etc. Definitely have a word with community fire officers. They may be able to help. And adult social services

Fire hazard and potential cockroaches.

@fizzypop100 simply being a hoarder does not alone cause rats. I know some hoarders, none of them are ta risk of rats.