Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kelly Sinoski

REALTORS WANT DRUG HOUSES IDENTIFIED

Many new owners find out only after they've moved in that they're 
living with potential risks

Scores of British Columbians are buying or renting former drug 
houses, but many of them find out only after their new neighbours 
drop by to meet them.

It's then that those residents realize they are living with potential 
risks of mould and wiring and structural hazards, and may even find 
their homes are uninsurable, delegates at the Union of B. C. 
Municipalities conference heard Wednesday.

"Homes were not built to be greenhouses," said Kevin Neufeld of the 
B. C. Real Estate Association, noting the average house is intended 
to have only 15 to 33 house plants before they overwhelm the 
ventilation system.

There were an estimated 13,500 licensed growers in B. C. in 2010 - 
about one in 137 houses - but officials say the number is believed to 
be much higher.

Mission was cited as a hotbed for marijuana growers, along with 
Cariboo communities stretching from 100 Mile House to Williams Lake, 
Quesnel and Prince George.

The Privacy Act is a stumbling block to identifying those homes, even 
after someone has moved out, Neufeld said. That means many people 
often don't know the history of their home when they move in.

A young family in the Fraser Valley found out they had bought a drug 
house, he said, only when their neighbour popped over to greet them.

An older couple in Delta rented their home and headed to Australia 
before retiring, but were called home within a year after their house 
was busted.

That couple spent more than $ 50,000 to fix their home, but will 
likely have to sell it at a loss.

"Make no mistake, grow ops affects sellers and investors," Neufeld 
said, adding many sellers aren't truthful in disclosing a drug house.

The B. C. Real Estate Association, working with the Surrey Fire 
department, is hoping to change that. The group was instrumental in 
setting up a provincial working group in 2011, which aims to come up 
with a strategy to set standards and ensure former drug homes are 
remediated to proper health and safety code.

The remediation process now is so piecemeal and inconsistent, 
officials argue, that residents can interpret it to mean anything 
from bringing the home back to Building Code standards to just 
carpeting the floors and painting the walls.

"The solution has to be a provincial process so when it's done and 
has been remediated, families will know it's a safe house to live 
in," Neufeld said.

Dr. Joe Clare, an analyst with the City of Surrey's fire department, 
said the proposed standard calls for a known drug house to be slapped 
with a "do not occupy" order by the province, followed by the 
appointment of an environmental consultant and restoration contractor.

Once the work has been approved, the residents can return to the 
house. A permanent record, however, citing that it had been a drug 
house, will remain.

The situation, he said, applies to illegal and legal grow operations, 
including those sanctioned for medical marijuana.

"If you are going to live in one of these houses there are dangers 
you are going to encounter," Clare said. "I doesn't matter if it will 
be legal or not, the damage will be the same."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom