Hoarder Tenants Holdover

[Joe Splitrock]

Has anyone ever had a situation where they have hoarder tenants that have so many belongings, it is hard for them to get all their stuff moved out? I have dealt with this a couple times. My tenants have to give 60 days notice, which is plenty of time to move everything. The issue is hoarders are in denial about their situation. They don't take action to deal with the mess and underestimate the effort involved in moving. They come down to the deadline and it is just too much work.

In my current situation, I told them upfront they had two to three times the amount of stuff that a normal tenant has. I warned them the move would take much more than they thought. I suggested a moving company. I followed up regularly and pushed them. Then moving day comes. I am two hours away from the walk through and I find out the property is filled with possessions and not cleaned. Tenant is combative and obviously overwhelmed. I suggest again getting a company to move or clean, but they insist on doing it all. 

I knew this would be a problem so I padded several days in for the new tenant to move in, but I a fear I will run out of time. With this particular tenant, putting pressure on makes them shut down, so I need to coax a solution. 

I went over to help them and I think it is moving in the right direction. I am looking for any advice on this situation and how to deal with it in the future.

One option would have been waiting to the lease the property until vacant, but that would have put vacancy in the middle of winter and would have resulted in lost rents. Maybe that is the only answer??

Anyone dealt with this? How do you motivate the current the tenant and what do you say to the new tenant? 

If there is hold over and the property is not available for the new tenant, what kind of legal or ethical responsibility do you have to the new tenant?

@James Wise and @Nathan Gesner