To call the police to conduct a wellness check for my hoarder neighbour?

[Atmywitsend23]

I had posted last week about an awful smell in my new apartment hallway. It transpires my neighbour has been a hoarder for 15yrs and there’s amongst other things, vermin and sewage issues in her apartment. The smell is so incredibly awful that it consumes the hallway and my apartment too. I’ve contacted my landlord, the building owner and the housing regulator to try and get some help to deal with the situation. Nobody seems to be able to do much. Would it be unreasonable to call police or social services for a wellness check? Surely when things are this bad there is a significant mental health issue and someone has a duty of care in this situation?

Yes call adult social services, they can check on them.

I would definitely call someone to do a welfare check if the smell is that bad. It sounds a sad situation when someone is so obviously neglecting themselves.

Of course it's not unreasonable. Have they been seen recently? If not call 101

Call adult social services and also the environmental health.

between them they should have the powers to cover both support for this lady and enforce any changes that break the environmental rules.

They might be known to the police. My NDN hoarder certainly is.

You can google the number to call the duty social worker for your area and report the concern. Police welfare check is generally more to do with if you haven't seen someone and believe they could be deceased/being abused etc rather than hoarding.

Are you in the UK?

Thanks for your replies! She’s definitely alive, I have spoken with her recently which is why I was unsure that the police wellness check was the right route to go down. Environmental health is a good idea too, thank you for that! If anyone has any other advice as to how to deal with this I would be very grateful!

Yes, in Scotland if that makes any difference

Hoarding in a flat is a known fire safety issue.

Try and contact the local fire brigade.
They will have dealt with these issues before and can either help you or point you in the right direction .
Also this is the angle to approach the landlord with. It’s not safe . You’re not interfering .

The police won't go out unless you suspect she is dead or unwell and requires urgent assistance and someone needs to break the door down.

If you know she's currently alive and well but are generally worried about her long term wellbeing and risks then adult social care and environmental health are the appropriate authorities

Yes please do speak to adult social services. Your poor neighbour obviously needs help and is likely overwhelmed by her compulsion and the consequences of it. It's a kindness to try and get her some help.

It can really help. The police can engage social services. They did this for our neighbour.

@Atmywitsend23 many forces won’t do wellness checks anymore unless there is a concern about whether someone is alive or there is a suspected crime. You’d be surprised about the lack of action even when someone has a diagnosable mental illness and is under services. Your best bet is likely environmental health / local council ( but I am in England so maybe check on scotsnet ?)does she own her own apartment? Are there other flat owners to talk to? There would normally also be a management company managing the property apart from the freeholder..surprised your landlord isn’t concerned.

Thank you for all the helpful responses. Social services were closed for non emergencies but environmental health were very helpful and are going to send out a team to investigate.

Don’t get your hopes up too much - people have the right to live as they please, and hoarding is a very very intractable mental health issue. While SS may investigate they are unlikely to be able to do much if your neighbour is living independently.

But environmental health can and should if her actions or collections are affecting others

Yes, make the phone call.

hoarding is a health and safety hazard for everyone.

not too long ago, the issue of a hoarding neighbor of a relative resolved itself. The thankfully detached house burned down. It took over 24 hours to put the fire out because it kept reigniting and the adjacent houses were in serious jeopardy. The resident luckily got out. I have no idea if this incident has been sufficient for her to get the mental health intervention she needs.

I think I would try the building owner again on the basis it would likely invalidate their insurance.

Fire brigade too.

Any decent social services department should at least try to engage the person though and try and establish if there are any social care needs.

If the risk to life is high enough it warrants a multi agency response to attempt to support the person a minimise the risks as far as possible

Look at any local safeguarding board website (England and Wales) and nearly every single Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) will be about adults who have died as a result of self neglect.

I'm not as familiar with the Adult Support and Protection Act 2007 in Scotland but I presume Section 53 offers similar protection for adults at risk from self neglect to Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 in England and Wales.

It was about 1990 but I had an ex who lived in Clevedon

There was a well known local hoarder - it was mostly rubbish he had picked up but every so often the Fire Service/Social Services would have to clear his place as it was a fire hazard.

Who is your landlord, is it a private let or a Housing Association/Council?

Thank you for your replies. The building is owned by a housing association but is a combination of private lets and HA tenants. I have been in touch with the housing association multiple times about this. All they say is “there is an ongoing investigation” and they won’t/can’t share anything else. I appreciate it is a delicate subject, and there are obviously some significant mental health issues present, but it is making the rest of the accommodation incredibly difficult to live in.

I am a private let tenant also.

Fire brigade

As others have said contact the fire brigade. Hoarding is a fire safety issue and they have a multi agency approach to hoarders so may be able to get social services and HA to step up their game.