LANDLORDS WORRIED OVER GROW-OP REGS

It could be more difficult to find a home to rent in Port Coquitlam if a
bylaw aimed at protecting tenants' health is enacted.

Linda Pasacreta, spokesperson for an association that represents owners of
75,000 rental units, is critical of a proposed PoCo bylaw requiring houses
and suites to be "remediated" after being used for marijuana grow-ops.
There are an estimated 300 to 800 grow-ops in Tri-City, most in rental units.

The bylaw, which received the first three approvals of four needed at
Monday 's city council meeting, requires houses and suites be cleaned by a
professional cleaner, repaired to meet the building code and inspected
before being occupied. The city's fee is $300 and a professional cleaning
to get rid of visible mould costs about $3,000 -- money that cannot be
charged to the offending tenant or future renters, according to the
Apartment Owners and Managers Association.

"It might put some people out of business, and there is already a shortage
of affordable rental housing," Pasacreta said.

She said owners of rental properties are currently hamstrung by the
Residential Tenancy Act, which makes it difficult to evict tenants using
rented homes for growing marijuana. Although growing marijuana and
producing methamphetamine are criminal activities, drug producers can
appeal evictions to an arbitrator, who cannot use precedents to make a
decision.

"It's a crapshoot," Pasacreta said, noting that recently the eviction of a
tenant with a10-plant grow-op was overturned because the arbitrator said
weren't enough plants.

"The city is not looking to the root of the problem and that is current
legislation that doesn't allow emergency entrance into the suite, and that
makes it a challenge to evict people," she said.

She also said rental property owners must be more vigilant in screening
tenants, checking their employment, previous rentals and credit ratings,
and that the association is informing its members they can no longer rely
on first impressions when renting out.

"Some of these people are very nice, and appear to be professionals,"
Pasacreta said,

Grow-ops degrade houses and apartments, police say: pesticides and other
chemicals are used and absorbed into finishings; excessive humidity can
cause structures to rot or develop toxic moulds; and electrical systems are
frequently altered and, if not repaired, pose a serious threat to the
safety of future occupants.

Several municipalities have bylaws charging rental property owners for the
costs of cleaning up after grow-ops, including material used by fire
departments, but PoCo would be the first to require professional cleaning
and repairs.

When the bylaw was first discussed at a committee meeting in July,
councillors were told it was approved by the provincial government. "The
ministry of health expects other municipalities to follow, so it took a
close look at it," said Jim Maitland, deputy administrator.

Many landlords are stunned to learn what their tenants have been up to but
several houses are the scene of repeated busts, according to police.

"If we find some small grow-op for personal use and the [RCMP] members
decide it's simple possession and dismantle it, my guess is the city won't
even hear about it," Insp. Dave Debolt of Coquitlam RCMP said in July.