Inheritance taboo
We have been preparing and reviewing a number of cases in preparation for EDMO applications and we have seen a number of common themes emerging.
We have noticed that in a number of cases where sons have inherited property a number of psychological barriers may be operating inhibiting and preventing owners tackling their inherited property. It might be useful that EPO’s develop insights into this area in order that we consider presenting a psychological report, where appropriate, along with a surveyor's report!
The inherited property was often the family home and those inheriting often grew up in the property. Furniture and belongings of parents are often kept in situ. No substantive repairs are carried out to even maintain the property. The property has often been empty for many many years. Sons appear to be struggling with issues of loss and bereavement. Financial concerns often don’t appear to be a problem. A range of 'deflecting reasons' are offered up to conceal the lack of progress in tackling the empty property. The empty property is visited on a very frequent basis.
In talking with my environmental health colleagues many of the presenting characteristics appear to have similarities with hoarders and obsessive compulsive disorder.
I have made an approach to Greenwich University to see if they can work with Lewisham to carry out a review of cases and present a paper on the psychological issues involved.
I would be interested to hear the views of other EPOs on this subject.
Nick Long
Empty Homes Officer
Lewisham
- Forums
taboo
Dear Nick,
You are right, this is a frequent condition and one I've experienced both in Empty Homes work and when my own parents died. Biting the bullet and clearing a life time of memories away is a hurdle to be crossed. I don't think it is a situation limited to sons. I think the condition is not the same as obsesive compulsive disorder or hoarding (the correct term for hoarding is digonese syndrome), it is simply linked to mourning.
The problem I forsee should you present a psychological assesment of the owner to a public enquiry or RPT is that the owner will get the "sympathy vote". The owner may be seen to be suffering an "illness" and not decide in favour of the local authority and leave the house to crumble for another age. You may be shooting yourself in the foot by pursuing this line.
Andrew Vickers Ex Nottingham City
Inheritance taboo - A woolly approach
My case load is filling up with such cases so I’ve been swotting up and refining my practice. Sorry, this is an essay!
Our job is to indentify and negotiate a way through the ‘deflecting reasons’ offered by the owner. One has to be sensitive to issues such as grief, marital breakdown, mental health and other vulnerabilities, but one can help the owner design a way through these issues.
An empty home that is either a hoard or a shrine or both, can be seen as an expression of a person’s character, beliefs or their circumstances.
In the case of an inheritance hoard/shrine, all too often a person loses control of the home, and the home then takes control of the person. The person may have passively or wilfully allowed this to happen.
If you overlay grief (or another stressor) on top of ‘hoarding tendencies’, the balance of control can slip farther away from the person. Helping the person to tackle the hoard or the empty home might help them begin to take control of their life again.
With such cases, one will have more chance of change if one has a basic knowledge of vulnerabilities and of the “difficult to engage”. Good links with care and health help. Our clients may not have a diagnosed or diagnosable problem, but what they are doing and how their world has ended up might be indicative of the need for some form of support.
One successful strategy I find with such cases is to use the Strengths Based Approach, lifted from health/care services. Instead of seeing the home/hoard as the problem, and associating that problem with faulty behaviour of the owner, I appeal to the owner that you want to help them overcome their obstacles by using their strengths and skills (that they identify themselves). Time-consuming, but it helps me unravel a few of the most complex owners.
Our toughest clients often seem to be in perpetual crisis (offering up a stream of “deflecting reasons”) and/or they resist agency involvement (“difficult to engage”). There are strengths behind what we see as weaknesses or failures.
So..
As mentioned above, a hoard/shrine may be an extension of their more immediate world. It may indicate that there is more of the same at their own home. It may be that the person is unable to tend to their own basic needs. If that’s the case, don’t forget your wider duty of care to vulnerable adults.
What has worked for me in drifting Probate cases (and particularly in the case of two 60-year old sisters who returned to their late Ma’s house for 10 years after her death to keep it tidy) was to appeal to their sense of duty to the deceased. Ask them, “What would your parent, etc want you to do with the Estate/property on their behalf? Why did they appoint you to carry out their wishes? Did the deceased want you to leave the property in this way?”
Finally, why bother presenting the personal and sensitive aspects of a case to a higher authority (RPT, Courts, managers)? I would argue that presentation of the full picture shows you have done a complete job, you are mindful of sensitivities and are doing what you can to help.
We don’t often have the time or experience to do this sort of thing though.
Nick P-G
Reading BC
01189373091
Mental health issues
This is a very key issue for empty property officers and a sympathetic approach is a lot more effective than assuming all empty home owners are 'bonkers' which shows an inherent lack of respect. Our EPStrategy takes an owner-orientated approach as our starting point and we tend to deal with it unofficially ( not being qualified to assess people after all) but I like your approach Nick P-G.
Emma Kumar
Brighton & Hove