This Hoarder Is So Out Of Control, He Can’t Get Into His Own House

A 74-year-old hotel worker's hoarding has got so out of control, he can’t get into his own home. Michael Saunders is a hard working, well-presented man, but his two houses, in the West Midlands, UK, tell a different story.Show more

The front door and windows to one of his semi-detached homes is blocked by seven foot high piles of furniture, bin bags and boxes and both have gardens that could be mistaken for jungles. So the local council has called in extreme cleaners Tee and Caz from N Gervais Extreme Cleaning Team.

Michael says that he works as a duty manager in a luxury 69 bedroom hotel, where he plays the piano and cooks the breakfasts for the guests. Michael says: “I lead a very, very busy life. I then went into hospital with cancer. I was in hospital for six months. I had the loss of salary for six months and then I was asked not to lift anything for about 11 weeks. And obviously things got in to a dilapidated state.”

The Cleaning Team estimated Mr. Sanders’ hoarding to be a level five, which is the highest level. At first, he wouldn’t allow Tee and Caz into either of his houses, so they started with the gardens, before moving onto his cars.

In total, the garden clean-ups alone took a team of five, two weeks to complete. The N Gervais team offered the elderly man an aftercare service, where they will visit him once every month after the cleanup.

Videographer / director: Adam Gray
Producer: Charley Sutton, Ruby Coote
Editor: Sonia Estal