Hoarder tenant threatening suicide over his rules violations

We have a longtime resident we inherited with a park purchase that is a severe hoarder - large piles of junk and items scattered around his home and encompassing his entire yard.

We tried to work with him, but the problem has only gotten worse and piles have expanded.

He’s in poor health and has said he can’t address it due to his poor health, yet he somehow manages to continuously accrue more things.

After multiple warnings we have finally started issuing written citations, and have no set a date on which the mess has to be cleaned up, otherwise we’ll be removing it for him and billing him back for the cost.

The resident recently told the manager he will commit suicide if anyone takes his stuff. My plan is to call the police’s non emergency line and report this to them.

If anyone else has any insights or suggestions on how to handle this situation I’m all ears.

That seems the right route. Maybe they can get a social worker to talk to them? Another thread mentioned having the city issue violations, making them look like the bad guy and not you. It also would emphasize the importance of it, and normalize it. Not that it’s just one person, you, wanting change, but expectations of the whole city.

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Call adult protective services.

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See if he is serious. Start moving stuff. If he is serious than it will cost you less in legal fees and the coroner will remove him for free. :smile:

(Just Kidding People) or am I? :slight_smile:

I had a guy with a similar situation. He wasn’t saying he would kill himself though. I didn’t even let him get that far in the conversation. It was more like 'clean up your yard within 10 days or eviction starts". He called wanting to speak to me but I wasn’t going to have any of it. I never returned his call and within about a week it was all cleaned up. I don’t really have time to deal with their personal BS and park people love to try and suck you into their lives and drama. It’s your prerogative if you want to get more involved and I wish you luck if you choose to.

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@Dominic730 has the right idea on not becoming involved in a lot of personal conversations with tenants. It just never is a good idea. Whenever someone starts to either share their life or ask about mine… I just explain that this is a business relationship and nothing else, so we need to keep any personal information out of conversations and then I ask a park related question to redirect the conversation. Other than smiling and waving as one of us is passing by… I only see most of my people on rent collection day and I live in my park. As far as your issue here… no idea. I would just seek legal help. You might ask your lawyer about the option to just non-renew them or give them the option to break a lease with you and they can take all their things with them when they leave. Then I would make sure I had clear guidelines on lot cleanliness and enforced them.

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I have also had to deal with a tenant similar to this. It is a waste of time and effort having a personal concerne about this type of tenant. This is not a issue you can work out and not a problem you can fix.
As long as you have this tenant you will continue to have the problem. There is only one permanent solution.
File for eviction and get rid of the problem. No place for emotions when enforcing community rules.

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@Jsmith I have a few tenants that share with me way too much stuff and go on about their medical issues and excuses why they are late, and I did not know how to navigate that. But it’s so simple just to tell them what you said. This is a business relationship and personal information should be left out of the conversation. Thank you

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@Chadclement1. I say it with a smile and an overall friendly presentation, but I try to keep it as professional as possible. It is really simple… this IS a business and you HAVE to run it that way. If you can’t do that… you are going to have a rough ride of it. They are my tenants, the people who work here are my sub-contractors, etc … my family and friends do not live here. Think of it like you are a hotel clerk, or cashier at a restaurant, or etc… you are helping them make a transaction. You are also the manager so you are helping them know they have to meet certain requirements to stay in your park… like being on time. I do not allow repeated late payments. Period. I am not in the late payment collection business. I collect rents. If they do not pay … in full… and on-time… they don’t live here long.

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Late payment is one thing I never tolerate. I make it clear that paying rent in full on time must be their number one priority in life. Missing a meal or two, maybe some medication or a hydro payment is far less traumatic than losing the roof over their head.

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