Hoarding and Cluttering

Legal Rights of Hoarders and Clutterers

In Trouble Because of Clutter?

Your landlord may have given you a deadline or a written notice to clean up your unit, or even started formal eviction proceedings. If your clutter problem is caused or made worse by a disability, you have certain legal rights.

What is a Disability?

Federal law, through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), in addition to California law, define a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, working, learning or caring for oneself. These laws also consider a person to have a disability if he or she either has a history of or is regarded as having such an impairment. Here are some examples of how a disability might cause a clutter problem or make it worse:

Disability and Clutter: Some Examples

Bill suffers from chronic depression that makes him unable to decide what to keep and what to throw away. Books and papers pile up in his apartment.

Sandra’s obsessive-compulsive disorder drives her to hoard appliances and clothes from garage sales into her apartment, which is already full.

Michiko has possessions in boxes piled to the ceiling of her apartment. After her stroke, she is physically unable to reach the boxes and sort through their contents.

George’s diabetes causes him to become legally blind, making it difficult for him to sort through stacks of printed material in his hotel room.

Diana’s brain injury from a car accident makes it hard for her to remember where things are in her apartment. Because of this, she keeps buying the same supplies over and over again.

Your Right to Reasonable Accommodation

If a disability is causing or making your clutter problem worse, you have a right to ask your landlord to adapt her or his rules, policies or practices, so that you are given an equal opportunity to use and enjoy your unit. Usually, in a hoarding/cluttering situation, the reasonable accommodation you request will be for the landlord to give you more time to get help to get rid of your clutter.

How to Ask for a Reasonable Accommodation

• Let the landlord know that you have a documented disability and how the disability affects your clutter problem.
  
  
• Be prepared to give the landlord a doctor’s letter verifying your disability. The landlord has a legal right to ask for such a letter. (Resources for mental health practitioners who can provide such a letter are in the Mental Health Resources section here.)
  
  
• Ask for an accommodation that will take care of the problem (usually, more time to get help). The amount of time you ask for should be realistic but not too long.
  
  
• Plan how you will get help from relatives or friends, from a paid cleaner or organizer, or from a government program such as In Home Support Services.
  
  
• Be prepared to give the landlord a doctor’s letter verifying your disability. The landlord has a legal right to ask for such a letter.

Where can I Get Help?

Legal Assistance

If the landlord won’t give you more time, thinks you are asking for too much time, or goes ahead with an eviction, it is important to reach out to one of several legal organizations that help people with eviction matters. Remember, evictions move quickly, so you need to get legal help as soon as possible.

Mental Health Support

It will be important for you to start cleaning and getting rid of some things, but this may be a difficult, exhausting process. Many people have trouble deciding what to part with and have emotional attachments to their things. It is helpful to find emotional support during this time. You can find help through support groups, individual therapy or other mental health treatment options. (See Mental Health Resources section here.)

Clean-Up Help

There are organizations and services that may be useful to you as you clear out your home. Some local agencies will pick up your donated items and distribute them to people who are in need. Other organizations offer a helper if you need physical help getting rid of items. (See Clean-Up Help Resources section here.)

For more information and/or referrals to clinicians, call or visit the Mental Health Association of San Francisco at 870 Market Street, Suite 928, San Francisco, CA 94102. Our phone number is (415) 421-2926.