SURREY CONSIDERS BILLING LANDLORDS OF POT GROW HOUSES

The city of Surrey wants the landlords who rent to marijuana growers
to pay police and fire department bills for drug busts.

After a police raid, the city would send the registered owners of the
property an invoice for the full cost of the raid.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who supports the proposed bylaw change
now before the city's public safety committee, says those bills could
be in the "thousands of dollars" range.

McCallum says the vast majority landlords in Surrey are good, but
perhaps 10 per cent don't take of their properties or take
responsibility for the tenants they choose.

"We don't want slum landlords - people who have investments in
properties and aren't looking after them," he said Monday in an
interview.

So far this year, police in Surrey have executed about 40 search
warrants for marijuana-growing operations and seized more than 10,000
plants.

Corporal Janice Armstrong, the media liaison officer for the RCMP's
Surrey detachment, said the cost of the raids varied widely,
depending on whether the raid involved surveillance, the time it took
to obtain a search warrant, and whether overtime was required.

However, she said an average raid takes about five hours and usually
involves about five police officers. Police get paid about $25 an
hour, so the average raid would cost $625 in wages alone.

Armstrong said charging fees could be another way to encourage
landlords to be more careful when they select tenants.

"Any time you hit people in their pocketbook, it gets their
attention," she said.

The bylaw, which could come into force in four to six months, would
likely result in a heavier financial burden than landlords already
face in Vancouver.

For the past 12 months, the city has required landlords to apply for
a special inspection permit after police raid a Vancouver property
that has a marijuana-growing operation.

Electricity and natural gas lines are routinely disconnected because
marijuana growers usually bypass electricity meters and create a fire
hazard with makeshift electrical wiring hooked up to high-watt lamps.
The high humidity in hot rooms lined with plastic sheets also
encourages mildew and rot.

Four kinds of inspections by four inspectors are required, at a total
cost of $412, before the landlord gets a list of things to be fixed
and a permit to reoccupy a house.

In addition to the repair costs the landlord has to pay, there's
still about $200 in reconnection permit fees before the gas and
electrical lines are reconnected.

Carlene Robbins, manager of Vancouver's bylaw administration branch,
said the city has collected more than $193,000 in fees from the
owners of houses raided for marijuana-growing operations since last
April, when the city's Grow Busters Project began.

But the potential profits involved in marijuana-growing operations
show why growers are willing to risk the wrath of landlords, and why
some landlords get their rent payments in cash.

From last April to the beginning of March, police in Vancouver had
seized more than $45 million worth of marijuana and dismantled $2.7
million in growing equipment in 413 places.

Robbins said 99 per cent of the houses with growing operations were
rental houses, although property owners are supposed to be
responsible for their properties.

"If they're not prudent who they rent to and don't monitor their
buildings - if they just take 12 post-dated cheques and never go back
- - that's sort of the price they pay for not being diligent
landlords," Robbins said.

She noted the city's permit fees are less than half of what landlords
get in rent - an average of about $1,500 a month per house.

So far, the number of suspected marijuana-growing operations in
Vancouver hasn't been reduced.

"We still have a list of 600 addresses that still have to be
investigated," Robbins said. "The complaint list just keeps growing."