Dirtiest Houses In The World

Hold your nose while we explore some of the most disgusting homes people actually live in!

April 26, 2023・

16 min read

Even if you’re a neat freak, you’ve probably been guilty of letting your house get a little messy at times. But that’s nothing compared to some people. After exploring these filthy homes you will probably feel better about your own domestic cleaning efforts. On the other hand, if your home is dirtier than any of the houses below, you should seriously consider getting some professional help!

From a house piled with poop to one utterly infested with rats, hold your noses because we’re about to enter some of the most disgusting homes that people actually live in.

An old lady didn’t let anyone see her home for decades, until a neighbor peeked in. She was horrified!

Lucy Ashen, from Fulham, England, knew literally nothing about the mysterious elderly woman who lived opposite her, despite them both living on the same estate for over 20 years. The woman had never allowed anyone to enter her home, though nobody other than Lucy had ever really tried.

She didn’t seem to have any relatives or friends, and she was almost never seen outside her flat. Even when Lucy tried to talk to her, the old lady was begrudging, and kept her distance. But then one day back in 2016, the elderly woman got locked out of her flat. Luckily, Lucy was around, and helped her get back inside, despite hardly knowing her.

When Lucy stepped inside the woman’s apartment though, she was shocked. There were human feces everywhere and the stench was horrific. Every single surface was caked in dirt and grime. Also, the furniture was torn to shreds, and her bed had completely sunk in on itself! The old woman must’ve been sleeping on the mucky floor instead.

A lesser person might’ve left right there and then. But not Lucy. Without stopping to think, she got to work completely gutting the house; she chucked everything, even down to the toilet seat! However, it wasn’t just the flat that needed cleaning. The old lady had mobility issues, and because of this hadn’t washed in a whopping 13 years.

So, incredibly, Lucy took it upon herself to give the woman her first bath in over a decade. Then, she set to work cleaning the flat as best she could. Aware she’d need help, Lucy posted on Facebook explaining the situation, and included a list of the things she needed. She was stunned at the response.

In just 24 hours, friends and strangers alike had sent her almost everything she asked for, and some even offered to come and help clean too! Working tirelessly with a few incredible volunteers, Lucy began an incredible transformation.

As well as cleaning everything from top to bottom, the crew replaced the lady’s broken furniture, fixed her television, and stocked her cupboards and fridge chockful of food! They even replaced the old, worn clothes in her wardrobe with ones donated by the community! 

Eventually, after 60 painstaking hours, it was done. And the flat was completely unrecognizable! Most importantly of all though, the elderly lady finally opened up. It turns out, she suffered from mental health issues as well as dementia, and had no friends or family to help her. But thanks to Lucy and her team’s kindness, her days of isolation were over.

Over the next two years, Lucy continued to see her and developed a great relationship with the woman that had once been so closed off. Sadly, the elderly lady passed away in 2018 but her life had been made infinitely better beforehand.

Diaper Deluge

As well as the truly horrendous job of cleaning up actual crime scenes, the Florida-based company Crime Scene Cleaning are often called in to tackle hoarders’ houses, which can get pretty damn grim.

But nothing could’ve prepared the team for a house they were tasked with cleaning at the start of 2021. They had to clean a mountain of used diapers and sanitary pads, heaped from the floor almost up to the ceiling.

And despite the mass of incontinence aids, there were still piles of mess everywhere! As it turns out, the plumbing had broken, and this was the owner’s solution. Twisted thinking here, as all those sanitary pads alone would’ve cost twice the price of a plumber! However, hoarding is a mental illness, and often it just can’t be explained logically.

Even so, there’s no denying how revolting this place looks. Luckily, the woman who lived here decided to move out and get a fresh start, and good for her! If I was the estate agent though, I’d probably hold off from showing that video to any potential buyers.

Tiktok Trash

Everyone’s been there; a guest is supposed to be staying round but you forgot, or just didn’t have time to clean the place properly.

Well, it’s safe to say one TikToker going by the name ‘Fat Anime Fanboy’ never has that problem. Not because he’s always tidy, but because his bedroom is so horrendously messy that nobody would want to come round in the first place! Or, at least, it used to be.

Back in January 2022, Fanboy set out on a mission, to tidy his bedroom one handful at a time. It’s definitely weird. Instead of tackling the job head on, the guy’s been picking up a single handful a day and documenting it on his TikTok feed.

For weeks he didn’t even make a dent in the mass of food wrappers, empty bottles, and pizza boxes. But fast forward to day 180, and the viewers could finally see the floor.

At this rate, he might even have the place tidy by the time he’s 40. It’s ironic, really, I bet he’s lost so many things because of that messy room but I can think of one thing it’ll guarantee he’ll never lose.

Floor of Feces

I’ve always been more of a cat person than a dog person, even though I’d only ever own one or two at a time. However, one 62-year-old woman from Ontario obviously thought very differently. Back in April 2018, local police were called to the woman’s house.

As soon as they opened the door, they understood why; it was like looking into a hellhole. Deep layers of poop covered the entire floor, sending up an awful stench. But that wasn’t all; the officers’ ears were also hit by a wailing cacophony of cats’ meows.

As they trudged inside, everything became clear. The bedroom was absolutely bursting with cats! And, while they weren’t in the rest of the house, they’d left their detritus everywhere. But it only got worse.

Going further into the disgusting home, the officers found a dog too, in a tiny cage unfit for housing anything. Believe it or not, he was the lucky one; other animals were also found, and they hadn’t made it.

It turns out, the owner had thought she was helping all these animals by giving them somewhere to stay, but the reality was far from it. The woman was charged with animal cruelty, and the pets were taken to the vet for medical attention. So, not such a happy ending for the homeowner; for the surviving pets, though? Catastrophe averted.

House of the Unknown Hoarder

If the prospect of cleaning your home brings you out in a cold sweat, just imagine the nightmares of the person who discovered this next entry. Back in 2018, someone posted some pics of an unimaginably dirty house. I’m pretty sure someone does live there or at least, used to. There was an armchair, television, and some kind of bed.

If you're still not convinced that anyone could live in this awful abode though, the poster found a note on the fridge that looked like a recipe. However, a pile of orange peels under the washroom sink indicated that whoever lived there had never used that recipe.

Clearly, whoever owns or owned this place has a serious aversion to basic hygiene. But the poster also found a mop hidden among the mass of clutter. What an irony! I really do hope whoever lived here got some help!

Dirt ‘n’ Demolition

So we’ve seen some pretty filthy houses so far. But back in 2017, YouTube handyman Stanley Genadek decided to explore one so filthy it was condemned by the government and scheduled for demolition.

That’s as crazy as it sounds. Just getting inside was tough, as the door could hardly open. When he managed to get in though, he immediately realized why. There was trash everywhere! Piles of it reached 4 feet high in places! At the back was a huge cluster of used diapers, and, even worse, there was human waste on the ceiling.

It’s pretty obvious why the homeowner wasn’t using the bathroom though because it was filled with all kinds of nasty stuff. And, surprisingly, Genadek sat down on all that detritus when only wearing shorts!

While everything about this is gross as hell, you’ve got to pity the original homeowners. Their hoarding problems got so bad they used to genuinely live among it all. But I pity whoever cleared it out as well because of recycling policies, you can’t get rid of trash alongside rubble, so someone had to do it!

Garbage Grotto

What’s your dream home? Many would say a luxury condo in sunny Malibu, but Jan Bush, from Wales, UK, envisioned something a little different. Jan decided her dream home was a literal WW2 bunker. With no electricity, hot water, or sewage, it’s definitely a “bold” choice.

Nature loving Jan thought it would be the perfect way of living a quiet country life. However, her bunker turned out to be anything other than serene. As the years went by, Jan developed a severe hoarding problem, and it got so bad that the piles of trash and dirt threatened to completely engulf her!

So, to quite literally help her out of this mess, an elite team of extreme cleaners paid her a visit. And even they seemed horrified at the soot-blackened walls, stained bedding, and piles of rotten junk.

But, after hours of cleaning, they managed to transform the bunker into a space that looks almost livable. Thankfully, Jan decided to sell it to a new owner and seek a fresh start.

Rat Attack

Everybody needs a helping hand sometimes, especially as we get older. But, unfortunately, not everyone has friends or relatives to be there for them. Sadly, one elderly man from Ashfield, UK, was in this position for a long time before the local council came round to inspect his property in late 2021.

When they did, they found something nightmarish, the house had a huge infestation of rats. The man was ill and unfit to look after himself or his property. So, slowly but surely, trash and clutter had taken over, until it had become utterly unmanageable. And, attracted to the rubbish lying everywhere, the rats had moved in.

The living room looked more like a garage full of old junk, and the kitchen had no electricity or running water! It's a miracle he survived for so long at all. Fortunately, after being found, the elderly homeowner was moved to a local care facility, and today he’s finally being given the care he deserves. Plus, he even managed to sell his home at an auction! Once all the junk had been thoroughly cleared of course.

But that’s far from the only time rats have run riot in a hoarder’s home. One unique hoarder from Napa County, Florida, didn’t attract rats to their home because of their hoarding habit, though, the rats were their hoarding habit! Back in 2018, animal control was called to a house and found an absolute horror show waiting for them.

The owner had been keeping thousands of rats. They’d bred out of control, many had become feral, and some had even turned to cannibalism! Luckily, some people intervened and managed to save over 500 of the ones that weren’t rabid cannibals, and today, they’ve all been adopted into better homes.

Queen of Clean

If you’re anything like me, you’re a sucker for a satisfying cleaning video. Finnish super-cleaner Auri Katarina isn’t though, she needs the real thing. So, she goes out and deep cleans people’s houses for free.

Let's explore one of the worst houses she’s ever cleaned. When she went in, she was told the bathroom hadn’t been touched in a whole five years, and it was like a pigsty! As for the bedroom, you couldn’t even distinguish the bed!

In fact, I’m not sure how the owner slept at all; even the floor wasn’t fit for sleeping. It was covered in globs of dirty, worn-out clothes that had been there so long they were completely stuck to the tiles!

What was going on then? Who owned this place? Sadly, it belonged to a young woman in Switzerland who’d fallen into depression. As the depression went from bad to worse, she lost motivation to clean, until it got completely out of control.

For five years she kept it a secret, even hiding it from close family members. But some time in 2021, she finally gained the courage to ask for help, and Auri flew out to provide it! The job she did was amazing, and the whole thing would’ve cost a whopping $15,000 if Auri hadn’t been there. Not all heroes wear capes, some wear rubber gloves.

House of Horrors

In late 2021, police were called to a house in the Wirral, UK, after neighbors heard a loud argument coming from inside. When the cops got there, they found a lot more than they bargained for. Upon entering and searching the house, they realized the couple had six children, and the family of eight was living in some of the most squalid conditions ever seen.

Filth, feces, and dead rodents were everywhere, and litter was piled high in every room. It even filled the bathroom sink and the bathtub! And the kitchen wasn’t any better; trash swamped the floor and mouse droppings covered every surface.

Shocked at the horrific scenes, the officers immediately called for help and evacuated the children from the premises. Thankfully, they’re now in safe hands. The parents were arrested on child neglect charges. It’s one thingto push that lifestyle onto yourself, but to push it on your kids as well?! The only thing trashier than the house were the parents that lived inside it!

Creature Discomforts 

Most hoarders fuel their addiction by hoarding household objects and junk. However, as we’ve known with the rat house in Florida, some hoarders end up with an absolute ton of animals too.

But if you thought the rats were bad, you’ve seen nothing yet. At the start of 2022, police were called out to a Californian home after reports of a possible animal hoarding situation. The house was overflowing with over 100 dogs and cats, along with all the pee and poop they left in their wake. Think about the smell!

The myriad of pets belonged to an elderly woman that lived there with them, but it soon became apparent not all the animals had lived to see old age. Indeed, the cleanup crew found some suspiciously cat-like skulls throughout the property. Luckily however, most of the pets were rescued and rehoused.

Across the ocean in Melbourne, Australia, a social worker found something much worse than a cat skull in a similar hoarder’s house. The worker was checking in when she walked into the living room and saw the full skeleton of a dog rotted into the carpet. Who knows how long it had been there for! We can safely assume neither homeowner was allowed pets ever again.  

Pigsty Power Couple

Leanne and Kenny Elliot are a husband-and-wife pro cleaning team based in Plymouth, UK. And because they specialize in crime scenes, they’ve seen a lot of horrible stuff. However, one particular house they visited back in 2019 made headlines for how horrendous it was.

It could easily be the ‘Filthiest House in Britain’. So, Kenny and Leanne walked through the door and were greeted with hundreds of cider bottles filled with pee. In total there were 250 bottles of the stale stuff; that’s almost 165 gallons of pee!

And the actual toilet was no better. For someone so content to pee into the small opening of a bottle, they seemed to have really bad aim when it came to pooping because everything was smeared with excrement.

Also, the drawer was absolutely filled with old, used cigarette butts. The more I learn about these hovels, the less I understand why you’d ever become a professional crime scene cleaner.  

Skele-son

Rita Wolfensohn is an elderly woman based in Brooklyn, New York City. One day back in 2016 she fell ill and was admitted to the hospital, so her sister-in-law Josette kindly traveled to her house to grab some belongings for her. But after entering the property and looking around, her eyes fell upon something so horrifying, it’s no doubt ingrained in her memory to this day.

If you hadn’t guessed, Rita was a hoarder. But Rita was also blind, so she couldn’t actually see any of the mess in her house. Therefore, when Josette waded through the debris-choked apartment to collect Rita’s belongings, she found something that Rita herself was totally unaware of.

Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, lying on a thin mattress, was a completely intact human skeleton, it even had clothes on! Overcome with shock, Josette ran out of the room and notified the police of her findings.

It turns out, it was Rita’s own son! But when the blind woman was questioned about it, she was confused and genuinely thought he was still alive! Crazy as it sounds, the room was so full of garbage that the smell of the body could’ve easily been mistaken for rotting food.

How the man passed away though remains a mystery, and Rita claims to know nothing about it. I’ve heard of having a few skeletons in your closet but having one in your bed is a whole new level.

Ashy Abode

I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to have your home hit by a hurricane. The place wrecked, rubbish lying everywhere, in fact, it’d probably look a little bit like the house in the picture below.

Only, these pictures were taken before a hurricane, not after! Seriously, this apartment in Houston, Texas, looks like a hurricane could’ve actually helped it out. I mean, whoever lived here definitely isn’t familiar with the concept of an ashtray. Instead, they’ve opted to just throw their cigarette butts in any space available!

Over in the bedroom, there’s hardly any bed. At least this hoarder had a healthy diet of donuts, pizza, coke, and cigarettes. Unsurprisingly, the evidence in the bathroom says otherwise. I can’t tell for sure what’s on that floor, but I don’t think it’s chocolate fondue.

Ironically, there were actually a ton of cleaning products in the kitchen. So, either they just gave up on cleaning or this is actually what it looks like after a good scrub. I can’t decide which is worse.

I hope you were amazed at these disgusting houses people actually live in! Thanks for reading!