COUNCIL REJECTS LEVY ON POT GROWERS' LANDLORDS

Councillors Vote Against A $1,000 Penalty For Owners Whose Houses Are
Raided By Police

Vancouver landlords who rent to marijuana growers got a break from city
councillors Tuesday.

Saying they didn't want to victimize beleaguered landlords already burdened
by tenant-protection laws, councillors voted narrowly against a staff
recommendation for $1,000 "special inspection permits" for landlords whose
properties are raided by the police Grow Busters team.

The $1,000 fees would help cover the $1-milion cost of the program.
Anything not funded by fees is paid out of general tax revenues.

Mayor Philip Owen, councillor Jennifer Clarke and city staff argued in vain
that many landlords are well aware of what is happening on their property
when tenants offer to pay cash in advance, don't provide references, and
exhibit strange behaviour after they move in.

But other councillors from both civic parties argued that landlords can be
entrapped by prospective renters, that they have little legal power to
evict renters under current provincial laws and that charging them a fee
victimizes them twice.

"These renters are very smart," said Councillor Don Lee. "They put on the
best disposition, come with a dog and two little kids."

Councillor Daniel Lee said, "I have problems with the landlord being
penalized twice. Do we ask banks to pay for the cost of the police if they
are robbed? Or someone who leaves a door open?"

Councillor George Puil said he couldn't imagine a landlord would knowingly
allow someone to move in who could do up to $100,000 damage, as happens in
some cases when grow operators alter wiring, cut holes in walls, and rip up
flooring.

Councillor Tim Louis said "it would be naive to suggest that a landlord
would be able to do anything" to monitor whether someone was growing
marijuana in property he had rented out, since landlords have to give 72
hours' notice to enter their rented property.

Councillors Sandy MCormick and Fred Bass also voted against the fee.

City manager Judy Rogers, attempting to turn the tide of opinion, pointed
out that Grow Busters police and city staff have observed there is a
pattern of landlords owning several houses that are rented out for growing
operations, indicating that it's not naive and helpless landlords who are
involved.

Clarke also reminded councillors that east-side neighbourhoods begged the
city for a special program to fight growing operations, because they were
so worried about the crime and deteriorating sense of neighbourhood that
were a consequence of having the operations proliferate.

Without charging landlords a fee, she said, "it will be the taxpayer who
pays for the due diligence not performed by the landlord."

Councillors, with the exception of Louis, who said the way to solve the
crime problem was by decriminalizing marijuana, supported the plan to
extend the program to September 2002. An existing $700 fee charged to
landlords will remain in place.

In the past 14 months, the Grow Busters team has shut down 607 growing
operations, 99 percent of which were in rented houses. Although operations
have been found in all parts of the city, they are especially concentrated
in the southeast.

Police Inspector Val Harrison, of the Grow Busters team, said while
marijuana growers come in all varieties, new immigrants are heavily represented.