If a Hoarder Passes Away What Happens?

if there's any estate the owner could go after that, but if there's not one, they just have to bite the bullet and clean it up.
khairete
S.

If there are no surviving family members or if they want nothing to do with it, then the landlord or management company will have to clear out any belongings.

This would be when they get a large roll off dumpster and toss everything inside. Any security deposit paid would go toward this cost.

I wanted to add that the owners property insurance does not cover tenant damage (hoarding, pet, or anything else a tenant can do) or items being left behind. I know this from having my own rentals and have had a couple of tenants leave the houses in the worst condition ever. I can't believe how some people choose to live.

Generally the management has to deal with it. If the person has a life insurance policy the management company can go after that for the costs but it is never worth the hassle since you won't collect much if anything. In the end the estate is responsible for the bills, if there is no estate that is where it ends.

As usual Gamma is totally wrong. No business is required to spend more money storing junk when there is no chance of being paid.

Well, I'll tell you what happens when a hoarder dies and her daughter is also a bit of a hoarder. And it's sad and doesn't have to be this way.

So, mom's in the hospital that becomes an extended stay. First of all, the dog was in the kennel because the mom wouldn't let her daughter take the dog because "he doesn't like your husband". Meanwhile, the bill is racking up because mom continues to be in the hospital. Daughter doesn't go against mom's wishes for whatever the heck reason, I don't know. Then mom dies. Daughter goes to the vet to pick up the dog and it's $3000.00 to get the dog. Daughter doesn't understand about how the estate has to pay the bills if one wants to be reimbursed, so she pays $3000 of her emergency money (believe me, she cannot afford this) to get the dog. And by the way, the dog and the husband get along just fine, and the dog sleeps at the foot of the couple's bed now.

Turns out that mom didn't leave daughter an insurance policy benefit. There isn't one. She did assign her daughter as executrix in her will. And the daughter was told that she didn't have to accept being executrix, but she did anyway. She can't just throw stuff out, either. She agonizes over tupperware, junk from 20 years ago, and wonders where her mom's money is, so she goes through every little thing piece by piece where she finds quarters, dimes and pennies strewn about. Meanwhile, SHE is having to pay the rent for this place because there's no money from the mom. It has been a year and a half now, and she is STILL not finished cleaning out this place so that someone can move in. And she feels hard at the landlord for making her pay.

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder how someone could be SO cruel to their family members to actually KNOW that they are dying, not talk about the end-of-life ramifications of their actual business, and not try to mitigate the financial loss they are projecting on others. So selfish!! So uncaring! She knew! And what the hell about the dog????

And yes, I knew these people personally...

A long time ago, we lived next to this man that rented the front apartment of a 5 flat. He was quiet, never really talked to anyone or went outside. I only knew what he looked like because he poked his head out the window one day when I gave the cat a flea bath. Anyway, when he had to move to a nursing home, the owners of the building had to clean it out. He had newspapers to the ceiling, blocking the front door, in front of most of the windows, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff. They had to rent a dumper for it. It would not have been worth it for them to file a claim against any money he might have had or make his daughter take care of it.

S.,

You need to contact the management office where this person lives and ask the questions. We do have a member in this group that manages apartments, hopefully, she'll be able to answer your questions.

Since it's a rental?? I would GUESS and this is ONLY a guess - that it would be up to the management office to pay to clean it out if he/she has no living relatives.

the owner of the rental would have to clean it up.

my previous landlord had it in the contract that we had to have all walkways clear and doors and windows had to be accessable for fire code purpose. she would show up 2x a year to make sure we were complying with the code. (it was in the contract) so she was preventing a super messy place to clean.

The property owner would be responsible for cleaning it up and they would hold the estate responsible for payment. If there's no money in the estate then the adult children can't be held financially responsible.

I imagine the property owner/manager would have to get a dumpster (empty it several times if the problem is bad enough), hire help, movers, college kids to just come and dump, dump dump it all.

I'm guessing it's the owner's responsibility, but that they might be able to bill the estate to cover the clean-up expense (and if there's no money there, I'm assuming the owner gets the short end of the stick). In college, I toured an apt. right after people moved out who'd left a ton of furniture and garbage. It was all cleaned up by the time we moved in.

The owner would have to store everything until the estate is settled. Then the person who's in charge of it would have to use funds to pay the storage fees. That's what I've heard has happened before. But I guess it falls on each state/local judge to make the decision.