Pubdate: Thu, 10 Aug 2006
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2006 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

SOME OF THOSE CHARMING HOMES HAVE GONE TO POT

Be careful - that charming little split-level in Terrebonne (or St. 
Constant or Greenfield Park) you're thinking of buying, the one with 
the nice double garage and well-groomed shrubs, might be less 
innocent than it appears. The previous owners might have used it to 
raise not a family but a very lucrative crop of marijuana, and that 
could mean major trouble for you down the road.

This is no isolated problem. The Association des courtiers et agents 
immobliers du Quebec, the professional group that represents 
real-estate brokers and agents, says that thousands of perfectly 
ordinary-looking homes across the province were once used to raise cannabis.

Right now, the real estate association is about the only protection 
home buyers have, other than hiring a good inspector. The association 
says its members are ethically obliged to reveal to buyers anything 
they know about a property that could affect its value or safety.

Keeping mum about marijuana production would certainly violate that 
principle. Indoor grow-ops are typically hydroponic operations, which 
means lots of high-powered lamps and lots of water. The result is 
often unsafe wiring, structural damage, and mold infestations that 
are difficult, sometimes impossible, to eradicate. Repairs are often 
expensive and sometimes the damage is so severe the only solution is 
to tear the place down and rebuild.

To its credit, the ACAIQ has been tackling the problem with some 
vigour. Ten months ago it sponsored a major grow-op seminar in 
Boucherville that brought together home inspectors, police 
departments, public-health officials and real estate agents and 
brokers. It has also held education sessions for agents across the province.

More recently it showed its teeth by hauling two Montreal-area agents 
up before its disciplinary board on charges that they'd failed to 
tell prospective buyers that what they were getting was more a 
plantation than a home. That's a good sign of serious intent, but the 
comments of one busted agent were hardly reassuring. It was unfair to 
single her out, she whined, because plenty of other agents had done 
the same thing and got away with it. That might just have been so 
much self-serving hot air, but all the same, it's a sobering thought.

Home buyers deserve a little more protection than the ACAIQ can 
offer. Ontario's community safety minister, Monte Kwinter, recently 
proposed an idea that would be worth considering here - a central 
database of homes that have been used to make or grow drugs. That 
would certainly make life easier for both buyers and agents.

This problem is not going to go away any time soon. The demand for 
marijuana shows no sign of abating, and as long as there's a demand, 
someone's going to try to meet it. Until Canada overhauls its 
antiquated and irrational marijuana laws the situation is unlikely to change.

In the meantime, forewarned is forearmed. If you're looking for a 
home, hire a good inspector before you buy anything. And don't fall 
for that I'm-just-an-innocent-split-level look.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman