STOMACH-churning pictures reveal the inside of a hoarder’s home which left its landlord struggling to breathe.
With bags of faeces, mountains of trash and hundreds of bottles of urine, the property in Plymouth, Devon is a dingy, dirty lair.
The tenant’s agreement for the one-bedroom basement flat was torn up by landlord Jan Pringle after the resident declined customary checks on the property during their two-year stay.
When Jan finally got inside, he could barely swing the door open thanks to festering piles of rubbish behind it.
Vodka bottles filled with urine and bags of feces, which filled the air with a putrid stench, were also discovered by the landlord, who had to wear protective gear like a mask and gloves.
“As soon as the door opened, it felt like a rainforest because it was so humid,” Jan said.
“We couldn’t push the door open because there was so much rubbish but when we did, I can’t describe the smell.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before.
“There were a couple of hundred bottles of wee and bags of poo and I could smell it.
“I had to crawl over the rubbish wearing a mask and gloves because it was completely full.
“You can’t get to the bedroom or bathroom. The toilet was blocked.
“The rubbish was composting. There were takeaway boxes, eggshells, and empty tins.
“It was two years’ worth of rubbish.
“There’s one bit of space on the sofa where they must have sat all day and slept.
“There’s a nice garden outside but the windows and blinds have never been opened.
“If someone challenged me to make that much mess in two years it would be difficult.”
Jan has since called upon a forensic cleaning company to give the flat a squeaky clean makeover before he gives the next tenant the keys.
Jan continued: “I’m not angry with the tenant. He’s slipped through the net. The system is broken.
“He needs help. I don’t know how someone can live like that.
“It’s harsh that there’s no one there to look after him.”
The homeowner nabbed the property in 2017 and rents it out unfurnished for £575 a month.
His recent tenant had initially agreed to a six-month contract but pivoted to a rolling agreement when it expired.
Hoarding as an illness
HOARDING can be better diagnosed as a mental health condition thanks to new guidelines for GPs.
The disorder, which affects around 2 per cent of the population, causes people to clutter their homes so much they can’t move about in living spaces.
However, it is rare for patients to be identified because they often struggle with co-existing mental health conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Now, psychologists have released a guide to help medics recognise and treat the condition.
Hoarding disorder was only recognised as a mental health condition in 2019, having previously been classified as a symptom of OCD.
The new guidelines, published in the British Journal of General Practice, set out how doctors can diagnose it and offer treatments.
While many people resonate with some of these, signs of hoarding disorder include:
- Clutter in living spaces, stopping you from being able to cook, sleep or wash
- Difficulty discarding items to the point it is distressing
- Obtaining too many items to be able to get rid of them easily
- Clutter is so much it is distressing you or your family
- Clutter is impairing everyday quality of life
Despite his best efforts, Jan was never granted access to the gaff.
“He wouldn’t let us gain access,” he revealed.
“We’d usually check in every six months to make sure everything is ok.
“We aren’t allowed to enter without permission unless there’s an emergency.
“I was scared to push too much. The upstairs neighbour said that he’d never taken the bins out and never left the flat so I was worried about him.
“Around six or seven months ago, I contacted some welfare charities to see if they would make sure he was ok but they said there was nothing they could do because he hadn’t come forward himself.
“We had to get a section 21 but it was the last resort.
“People say we are the bad guys. I want to get the point across that the private rental sector is providing a service because there aren’t enough houses.
“I can’t afford to sell. If I had one or two properties I probably would.”
