Kate Hackett
This one is TOUGH.
I am honestly torn on judgment for this because, on the one hand, u/throwaway5638134 is perfectly within her legal rights to “refuse to give this woman her grandma’s wedding dress and jewelry back?” but on the other… ugh.
Here’s her story:
I(26F) bought a hoarder house back in May 2018. It is a big 6 bedroom 4 and a half bathroom house.
OP bought a huge hoarder house in May of 2018 and spent four YEARS cleaning it up. When she bought it, the contract said that she owned the house and everything in it because the heirs could not handle the junk inside.
When I bought it, the contract stated that I take ownership of the house and everything in it. The lady who owned it died, and her heirs could not deal with the stench and literal mountain of junk and waste in it (you could only open the door not even 8″, and some rooms had the junk filling them wall to wall and floor to ceiling).
OP was careful to check everything as she cleaned it and wound up with a decent haul: $20k of money, some jewelry, antique furniture, and a gorgeous wedding dress. The dress took some minor work to restore it.
Well it took me these last 4 years to finish cleaning, fixing and updating it. While doing the cleaning I made sure to check everything before throwing it out. Ended with more than $20k of money, some nice jewelry and antique furniture, and finally a stunning 40s style, lace covered wedding dress. This woman took care of that dress untill she couldn’t anymore, and it took just some minor work to restore it.
Not that it matters, but OP plans to wear this dress when she gets married – if she ever does. It clearly resonated with her!
I currently don’t have a partner, but I decided that it would he the dress I will be wearing if I ever get married.
Out of the absolute goodness of her heart, OP passed a few pictures and bits and bobs that held personal meaning to the heirs. Which meant she had some contact with them and…
While doing the cleaning, I reached to the heirs to pass on some pictures and momentos (Christmas personalized ornaments, some kid artwork…), and because of that, I had one of them (30s F) in my FB friends list.
…when OP posted photos of the dress, one of the heirs asked for it back.
After repairing the dress, I put it on with the jewelry and posted a pic on FB. Well this woman saw it and asked for the dress and heirlooms back.
I refused to give them back, and legally they can’t do anything. Also if they meant that much to them, they should have cleaned the house on their own, not sold it to me.
OP loses me a little here with the attitude, but she’s technically right: they can’t do anything and this is the risk you take when you sell a house in this condition.
Now she, and all her family, are calling me out on social media. AITA?
So what do you think?
Personally, I’m pretty torn: yeah, it’s hers now, but imagine being the heirs and realizing your treasured items were now gone forever. Rough. Reddit firmly came down on NTA:
“NTA- Recovering hoarder here. Legally, you are in the right. Morally, you are also in the right. And though I cannot speak for the woman whose things you now own, I can give you insight into how I would feel if I died before I could find homes for my treasures: I would want someone who cared enough to restore and respect the items to have them. You saw the beauty in them, as did she. You didn’t just chuck it all in a dumpster. Take them, wear them, be happy to honor the original owner. Her family did not view these things as anything but a hassle,” wrote zakatekaluka.
Another user noted, “NTA. It’s a lot to clean a hoarder’s house. They could have hired a service if they were mentally unable to do it but instead they dumped it on someone else who paid them to take the house and all that’s in it. If they cared about the items they should have offered you money or asked you to keep an eye out. It’s yours, you did the work. I don’t care how cheap you got the house, it probably doesn’t “even out” like someone said because hoarding houses are… disasters, simply put and it takes a lot to clean and restore them.”
