Landlords should sign pledge to help hoarders, says group of Merseyside landlords

A group of Merseyside housing associations has called on landlords to support hoarding tenants through a new national pledge.

Liverpool-based provider Prima Group established the housing and hoarding innovation group in 2025, which now has 13 members.

The group aims to standardise the services offered by registered providers (RPs) to people living with hoarding, which was recognised by the NHS as a complex mental health condition in 2013.

This could help landlords fulfil their legal duty of ensuring tenants and their homes are safe and compliant as well as amplify their voices through a collaborative approach to service delivery.

Following feedback Prima received from residents with hoarding disorder, the group has been working on the development of a national charter that will set out what people living with the condition can expect from their landlord.

It aims to help RPs identify hoarders and develop methods of delivering appropriate support. It would also set standards for training and education for staff and contractors.

The group is asking other social landlords from across the country to express their interest in signing the pledge.

The group consists of Alpha Living, Cobalt Housing, Family Housing Association, Livv Housing Group, Magenta Living, Onward Homes, Prima, Regenda Homes, Riverside, South Liverpool Homes, Torus, Westfield Housing Association and Wirral Methodist Housing Association.

Jenny Devon, sustainment and cohesion manager at Prima, said: “As hoarding takes place in the home, the sector is at the heart of the issue and perfectly placed to create a co-ordinated, compassionate approach which is what the pledge will provide.

“Social landlords are permanent fixtures in tenants’ lives and our ongoing relationships with them means we can offer long-term support so the more housing associations and local authorities that get involved in this movement, the better.”

Support group Hoarding Disorders UK has estimated that two to six percent of the population are hoarders.

Symptoms of hoarding include keeping or collecting so many things that it affects someone’s life or the lives of people they care about and not being able to manage the things they have saved but still finding it very difficult to get rid of them.