“Hoarding is More than Clutter” – KSN attorney Joshua Weinstein explains how hoarding in a condo unit can evolve into an association-wide health and safety risk, as well as the legal rights and responsibilities of association boards have to address hoarding. (12 mins.)
The KSN Podcast examines various aspects of association law, landlord/tenant issues, property tax appeals, and more.
In each episode, KSN attorneys share their experience and knowledge as they discuss legal updates, best practices, industry trends, and more.
KSN Podcast episodes are available here: www.ksnlaw.com/podcast
Subscribe to the KSN Podcast where podcasts are found including:
You can also listen to the episode on YouTube:
For more info about our law firm and legal services, please visit www.ksnlaw.com.
Episode Transcription
Nikki: You are listening to the KSN podcast, and today we’re talking about hoarding. Welcome to the KSN Podcast where you’ll hear from KSN attorneys as they share their experience and insight on legal issues surrounding community associations, collection, property tax appeals, and landlord tenant law. I’m Nikki, and today we’re joined by KSN attorney Josh Weinstein. Josh practices condominium, townhome and homeowner association law in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs advising clients and property managers on how to stay on top of legal requirements across the spectrum. Hi Josh, welcome to the podcast.
Josh: Hi, Nikki. Great to be here.
Nikki: Our topic today is hoarders. You know, something that if you live in a condominium, townhome, or homeowner association can be something very complicated to address.
Josh: Yeah, it’s important to be able to respond to a hoarding situation within your association before it becomes a community-wide health risk.
Nikki: So, Josh, let’s jump right into it. What kind of concerns does an association need to address with hoarding?
Josh: So, the first thing to understand is the difference between clutter and hoarding. They are two different things. So hoarding is a compulsion to continually accumulate a variety of items, even those that are often considered useless, and it’s accompanied by an inability to discard these accumulated items without great distress. Hoarding goes beyond normal clutter and a hoarding disorder can manifest on its own in response to trauma or in conjunction with other mental health disorders.
Nikki: And, you know, I think we can both agree that neither of us are mental health professionals, but from your legal perspective, why should an association get involved with something like this?
Josh: Well, we can certainly agree that I am not a mental health professional, but hoarding is an association issue for many important reasons. A hoarding environment within the association can create adverse health issues and safety hazards for all association residents, not just the unit owner who has the hoarding going on in their unit. So hoarding masks, structural and maintenance issues at times within the unit, which would otherwise merit attention and you might see things such as cracks in the walls or utility issues that go unnoticed because of the hoarding. So, debris in a hoarder’s unit can attract and breed infestations of roaches and silver fish and rodents and all kinds of different pests that you don’t want in your association, it can also create damp on sanitary conditions which are a breeding ground for mold and bacteria that can migrate into the walls and the HVAC ducts and other portions of the property.
Also, debris in a hoarder’s unit becomes a fire hazard. So, if you have piles of flammable material near electrical sockets, that’s an obvious problem. And over time these issues might spread to common elements, so beyond the four walls of the unit. As most of these issues might be buried under an accumulation of items, the unit owner might not even be aware of some of the issues in their unit until significant damage has occurred. I’ve seen, for example, some pretty serious underlying issues that were masked by resident hoarding. One in particular I saw a unit that was completely covered in miscellaneous items from newspapers to plastic bottles, canned food you name it, completely covered wall to wall with the exception of maybe a little pathway for the unit owner to walk. Well, that in itself is probably troubling because of the potential safety risks involved, fire hazards maybe. But the bigger issue was that because there was so much miscellaneous stuff everywhere, the owner in the association had no idea that the unit had water coming in their kitchen, which was damaging the drywall. So, on top of the property damage in the form of the wet drywall though, there was another sort of trifecta issue. They had rats, they had roaches and they had mold. So of course, in addition to the obvious property concerns, right, the physical damage to the units, there’s also some serious health and safety concerns that can arise as well.
Nikki: Yeah, definitely. I mean that sounds like a pretty extreme case and I mean, I wouldn’t want to be the person living below them if you know there’s water leaking into the drywall. Just general safety and hazard concerns for everybody involved. So, how can an association then tell if there is a hoarding situation going on?
Josh: Well, a hoarding situation can be identified in a number of ways. So first visibly a hoarding situation will often present itself with stacks or piles of items. However, a unit owner may take steps to block individuals from viewing their unit by having the blinds closed, not opening the door all the way to prevent others from discovering these conditions. So, unit owner might also refuse to allow the board access to the unit for maintenance issues, for example. So, it’s often difficult to visibly see whether there’s a wording situation going on. So, the other way you might be able to tell is it may be detectable by smell. So, an animal and or degrading food odors can emanate from a unit in the hallways or into neighboring units alerting others to a potential issue and what I’ve found is that’s more commonly what you see, is the odors that are emanating to other units rather than someone visibly being able to see what’s going on in the unit.
Nikki: Josh and I are going take a quick break, but when we get back, we’ll get into actions that association boards can take to address hoarding situation.
Kelly: I’m attorney Kelly Elmore and I’d like to ask you if you’ve downloaded the KSN app. Here’s some of the app’s features; 24/7 real time access to KSN’S collection status online CSO portal featuring updates on active collection, foreclosure and landlord tenant matters, articles and booklets authored by KSN’s, experienced association tax and landlord tenant attorneys, access to our schedule of upcoming educational events and you can view snapshot profiles of all KSN attorneys with contact info and mobile accessibility. The KSN app is now available for free download in the iTunes app store for your iPhone and iPad. The app is also available for free download in the Google Play Store for your Android phone or Android tablet. Just search for Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit. We invite you to download the KSN app and learn what our law firm can do for you. We look forward to demonstrating how Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit has earned the trust of thousands of clients for over 30 years.
Nikki: And we’re back. I’m here with attorney Joshua Weinstein and we’re talking about hoarding. So, Josh, we talked about how to identify hoarding situations, which can be difficult, you know, smell, see you name it and why is it important for an association to get involved? When should your association act on a situation like this?
Josh: Immediately. Associations should take immediate action. Hoarding situations can quickly evolve into association wide health hazards as we sort of touched on before. If the association becomes aware of these unit issues and takes no action, it can be liable for damage to surrounding units and health injuries to neighboring residents.
Nikki: And you know, it seems like an association needs to have governance in place in order to proactively address hoarding. I mean, do you have any recommendations for this?
Josh: Sure. So once alerted, the board is going to need to access the unit to determine if a hoarding situation is present. And if so, determine if the conditions present a safety issue. An identifiable safety risk is what authorizes and really compels the board to act. The board would then reference the applicable law. Here we’re talking about the Illinois Condominium Property Act and the Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act, as well as the association’s declaration of course and all of those things in order to determine the best course of action based on the identified risk. So, I’ve seen associations that have declarations that provide specific provisions granting the board authority to address hoarding unit owners, for example. But generally, there’s a provision in the declaration or in the governing law that permits associations to access units for the purpose of remediating these types of situations.
Nikki: And you know, Josh, are there any resources unit owners that are kind of looking for ways that they can kind of proactively work against hoarding?
Josh: Sure. State and local health departments, health and human services departments, those sorts of departments can assist in identifying hoarding situations and provide resources to unit owners who are struggling with hoarding disorders. So, I mean, those things are generally helpful for anybody just for general information purposes or for specific identification purposes. Associations can also refer a hoarding owner to a specialized counseling service, such as a therapist or a cleaning and sanitation service, both of which might be necessary to combat both the property issues and the underlying mental health issues that are at play.
Nikki: At what point should an association take legal action against a hoarding situation?
Josh: Like most other situations, legal action here should be considered after well-documented good faith efforts have been made with the hoarding owner to resolve the problem. So, board members should be proactive to work with legal counsel to adopt rules, addressing expectations regarding the conditions of units, detailing owner responsibilities, and outlining the steps that need to be taken in the event of non-compliance. So for example, I’ve seen if the association becomes aware of a potential hoarding situation, the board with the assistance of counsel might first issue a warning notice to an owner to clean up the units and then if the issue persists, the board might utilize its powers under the relevant [Inaudible:09:28] condominium property act to demand access to the unit to perform necessary repairs and cleaning up the unit and generally the association’s governing documents provide the board can charge back the unit owner the cost to do that. And then finally, if the unit owner fails to provide access, the board can vote to initiate a lawsuit to gain access and do whatever is necessary to clean the unit so that there’s no further threat to the property or the health and safety of the residents.
Nikki: And Josh, what do you recommend for association board members or property managers who might be looking for more guidance on this issue?
Josh: As always, associations should be proactive in generating policies around acceptable unit conditions and safety risks. An attorney can of course help an association review governing documents and make updates, if necessary, as well as advise on a case by case basis as unfortunately, no two hoarding situations manifest identically.
Nikki: That was KSN attorney Joshua Weinstein. He practices condominium, townhome and homeowner Association law in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs advising clients and property managers and how to stay on top of legal requirements across the spectrum. KSN is an experienced legal resource ready to provide you with quality advice and exceptional service. We look forward to demonstrating how we have earned the trust of thousands of clients over the past 35 years. If you’d like to reach Josh or any of KSN’S experience attorneys, please call 855-537-0500. You can also visit ksnlaw.com to complete the contact form to send us a message. Thanks for listening.
Outro: The music for this show is provided by podcastthemes.com. Please note the material contained on the KSN podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by your review or receipt of the information contained on the KSN podcast. You should not act on the information discussed on the KSN podcast without first obtaining legal advice from an attorney duly licensed to practice law in your state. While KSN has made every effort to include up-to-date information on the KSN podcast, the law can change quickly. Accordingly, please understand that information discussed on the podcast may not yet reflect the most recent legal developments. Material is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up to date. KSN reserves the right to revise or update the information and statements of law discussed on the podcast at any time without notice and disclaims any liability for your use of information or statements of law discussed on the podcast or the performance of the podcast generally. The KSN podcast may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions under applicable laws and ethical rules or regulations.
Please note the material contained on the KSN Podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by your review or receipt of the information contained on the KSN Podcast. You should not act on the information discussed on the KSN Podcast without first obtaining legal advice from an attorney duly licensed to practice law in your State. While KSN has made every effort to include up-to-date information on The KSN podcast, the law can change quickly. Accordingly, please understand that information discussed on the podcast may not yet reflect the most recent legal developments. Material is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up to date. KSN reserves the right to revise or update the information and statements of law discussed on the podcast at any time, without notice, and disclaims any liability for your use of information or statements of law discussed on the podcast, or the performance of the podcast generally. The KSN Podcast may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions under applicable law/s and/or ethical rules/regulations. © 2022 Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit, A Professional Corporation.