OUR VIEW: LANDLORDS HAVE REASON TO COMPLAIN

Police and civic officials in this province think they may have found an
effective way to counter the plethora of home marijuana growing
operations-put the onus on the landlords.

The idea has gone from theory to reality in Surrey, where that Vancouver
suburb has enacted a bylaw that calls for landlords to face charges up to
$7,500 if police find grow-ops at rented premises in that city.

It has been dubbed "the Surrey solution," but whether that idea is fair to
landlords, regardless of its practicality or if it will stand up to a
potential court challenge, is questionable.

It can be argued that Surrey council is asking landlords to do what its
local RCMP apparently cannot-police the underground drug movement as it
pertains to the use of rental properties.

Mayor Walter Gray says he is intrigued by what Surrey council is doing,
noting that Kelowna also has its share of grow-op policing problems which
tax the local RCMP's operating budget as is the case with most police
departments in urban areas faced with this crime problem.

Gray says putting the onus on landlords will make them more "responsible"
when they seek tenants who may or may not have drug business connections to
organized crime, as opposed to being concerned only with the monthly
cheques rolling in and turning a blind eye as to what illegal marijuana
growing activities may or may not be taking place.

But the mayor should remember that renters also have rights, such as not
being subjected to visits by their landlord without receiving proper notice
in advance.

We should also not forget that landlords also pay a price for not keeping
tabs on their renters already through the home repair costs after a home
grow-op has been busted, a cost that can be routinely in the thousands of
dollars.

If this policy has the intended impact desired in Surrey, then it can
probably be successfully applied to most other B.C. communities.

But at this point the Surrey solution appears to be another hidden way of
downloading a responsibility of police onto landlords.