A moving company says cluttered, unsafe homes are leading to an increase in challenges

Movers say they're seeing more difficult cases, including homes in extreme disarray, hoarding situations, and units that pose health hazards to workers.

A moving company and a pest control company say they’ve seen a sharp rise in especially difficult moves since the pandemic.

These include homes in extreme disarray, hoarding situations, and units that pose health hazards to the workers walking in.

Pierre-Olivier Cyr, co-owner of Déménagement Le Clan Panneton, said that before the pandemic, his team would encounter mental health-related moving challenges roughly once a month. But now, he says, “we’re seeing that kind of situation two to three times a week.”

He believes the issue has exploded in the past year. In many cases, Cyr said movers show up to an apartment to find no boxes packed, belongings everywhere — or worse.

“It’s not rare that the movers arrive, for example, at an apartment and they see some syringes, some condoms, some blood on the floor,” he said. “Sometimes the person [client] is just there sitting, in shock.”

Cyr believes these situations are linked to what he sees as a rise in mental health struggles that have persisted since the height of the COVID-19 crisis.

“In the past, people were ready for moving day,” he explained. “Now we’re called to reschedule because they aren’t prepared. Other times, we arrive and realize they’re hoarders and nothing has been touched.”

‘Our movers aren’t psychiatrists’

The result, he said, is a growing burden on his employees. Not only are they asked to pack up entire apartments, but they must also navigate potentially unsafe conditions.

“Our movers aren’t psychiatrists or mental health professionals,” Cyr said. “So, we’ve had to put in place procedures to help.”

He explained that, if movers walk into a situation with a customer in a mental health crisis, they call a dispatcher at their office right away. “We manage it as a team, and we train our staff to be ready, but it’s different every time,” he added.

It’s a pattern pest control expert Alexis Laberge, owner of Alextermination, is also seeing. He said he encounters heavily cluttered or unsanitary apartments every week, often in the context of a move.

“These apartments are very dirty and very clustered, which makes it harder for us to treat for pests like cockroaches or bedbugs,” he said.

Laberge said the problem is logistical and financial. Treatment requires that apartments be emptied in advance, but when they’re not, his team is stuck doing all the prep work.

“For every apartment that’s not ready, we lose two to five extra hours,” he said. “That’s not what we quoted, so it becomes extra costs for the owner, the tenant, or the moving company and no one wants to take responsibility.”

In one case about a month ago, Laberge said he and his team spent two extra days emptying a severely neglected unit filled with animal and human feces, cockroaches, and mice droppings. “It was a nightmare,” he said. “And in the middle of our busiest season.”

He says these cases are not just draining — they’re emotionally exhausting. “It creates a lot of stress and anxiety for us, too. But we can’t leave people like that. Sometimes, we just do it for free.”

Pandemic made problems worse

According to clinical psychologist Dr. Natalia Koszegi, these situations can stem from a combination of mental health issues, including compulsive hoarding disorder.

Koszegi is the clinical coordinator at the Centre d’étude clinique sur les troubles obsessionnels-compulsifs (CETOC), where she specializes in obsessive-compulsive and hoarding disorders.

“Hoarding is a mental health disorder where people accumulate objects and have extreme difficulty letting them go,” she explained. “They often feel emotionally attached or justify the need to keep them. Over time, it creates serious clutter.”

She added that the pandemic exacerbated existing mental health problems for many people.

“The stress, unpredictability, and insecurity created by the pandemic affected everyone,” she said. “But for people who already had a mental illness — including those with obsessive-compulsive or hoarding disorders — it got worse.”

Koszegi also pointed out that not all disorganized homes are a result of hoarding. She said other conditions like depression, psychosis, or substance use can lead to over-accumulation.

But, when it comes to people with hoarding disorders, she said the experience of moving can be “extremely complex” and lead to people being in crisis.

“Just gathering their belongings and putting them into boxes can take forever,” she said. “It creates massive anxiety. People worry about losing or damaging their possessions, or being forced to throw them away.”

In severe cases, she said, even the thought of packing can trigger distress. “They might be afraid they won’t have space for everything in their new home. It’s not just a problem of organization, it’s an emotional struggle.”

Resources exist to help people navigate these challenges, but Koszegi said access remains limited.

“There are not enough services,” she said. “But there are some community organizations and even city-level supports that can help people plan or prepare for a move.”

She pointed to tools available through the Comité d’action pour le trouble d’accumulation compulsive (CATAC), a Quebec-based network offering peer support and professional resources for people living with hoarding disorder.

For Cyr, the message is simple: these can be more than simply messy moves — sometimes, they’re cries for help.

“We need to be ready to manage them with care,” he said.