Hoarder tenant is physically unable to move his belongings

[Alex Scott]

What would you do? How do I get this tenant out?

Four unit property, with one unit housing an elderly hoarder with a bad back.

His official lease has been done for more than a year, so he's been month-to-month for more than a year now.

The trash pile in his unit makes the halls smell bad, and we need to get in there and renovate the unit. Given his age, he already has trouble going up and down the two-story stairs, so waiting longer would mean the guy would just be further entrenched.

At the end of March I certified-mailed him the Non-renewal notice with a move-out checklist, and regular snail-mailed him the same thing two documents just to be sure. The documents said he has a May 3rd move-out date, more than 30 day notice from March 25th document date.

Called him yesterday to ask when I would get the keys from him and he was unaware of anything because he had not left the apartment in two weeks, and had not even gone to the mailbox. Completely unaware of the non-renewal notice.

Given the guy has mountains of garbage in the unit (never would have been allowed but he was an inherited tenant), and the guy can barely walk around due to a bad back from age/ his work, how would you orchestrate this? He's not capable of moving all that himself, and will just ignore the May 3rd date.

Our current path is to just start the eviction process on May 6th. Do you think we should try to convince the guy to leave by paying for movers? 

[Marc Winter]

Follow your state's L/T laws about non-renewal of lease notification.  Also, serve proper notice to start the eviction process clock ticking.  Do that also according to your L/T laws, so that if the tenant does not move on the appointed day, you will be able to file without a further waiting period.

Plan in advance for getting a secured storage locker and have movers ready.  From your description this person will not be able to help himself, so you will have to step up and IMHO probably have to evict him.  Expect it, and remember, a "hoarder" is now designated as a somewhat protected class (disability) so DO NOT mention that word in any of your conversations or documents. 

After the eviction, have the movers put all his treasures in storage.  Keep them there for the time stated in your L/T laws, and then let the tenant pay for the storage unit, or the storage company will sell the contents at auction.  

Going forward, quarterly or bi-annual inspection of your rental units will help you catch this type of issue before it becomes overwhelming for both the tenant and you.