LAW AIMS TO MAKE FORMER GROW OP HOUSES SAFER

For years, real estate agents have struggled when they're asked to
sell a home that they suspect housed a marijuana grow operation.

"We've seen a few houses where we suspected it, so you do work to try
to determine it, but you're never 100 per cent sure," said Robb
Atkinson, owner of Royal Lepage Royal City Realty.

"It's difficult if you don't know what you're looking for, or if
they've done a really good job to make it appear to be cleaned up."

A new law that recently took effect requires city building officials
to inspect properties that police have identified as grow houses and
order repairs if the property is deemed unsafe.

A landlord or owner won't be able to sell the house or occupy it
unless the work is done.

That added certainty will help real estate agents, Atkinson
said.

"The more information we have, the better job we can do for our
clients," he said.

In the past, real estate agents have had to rely on hints like
tampered electrical panels, holes in closet floors and ceilings, and
traces of circles on the basement floor from the pots that held
marijuana plants, he said.

"Suspected grow house operations, they taint the property and they
usually attract mould. And a house full of mould is not considered
safe," Atkinson said. "It's accepted practice in this office that if
we're aware of that, we would disclose it.

The City of Guelph's building department has already been doing
inspections at former grow ops for years, said inspection services
supervisor Rob Reynen.

The city has an agreement with Guelph Hydro, which cuts the power to
any buildings identified as grow ops. When the power is cut off, the
city is notified so they can inspect the building.

"They requested a number of things to be done before they restore the
power, and one of them was an inspection by our department," Reynen
said. "We want to ensure the building is basically restored to the
condition it was before."

The city has been doing the inspections for two or three years, and
averages three or four inspections a year, he said. Most of those are
at houses, but there's an occasional apartment.

"We go in, identify what needs to be fixed, and the owner hires
contractors or does whatever they have to do to get the stuff fixed,"
Reynen said. "It usually involves two or three inspections in total,
on our part.

"That's been very successful."

He said he doesn't expect the building department's workload to rise
as a result of the new rules.

City officials are expected to meet with Guelph Police this month to
figure out how they'll set up inspections for grow ops.

Other parts of the grow op law went into effect last year. The law
allows power companies to cut off electricity to a house for the sake
of safety or system reliability, allows the government to seize the
proceeds from grow operations for crime prevention and victim
compensation and doubles the maximum penalties for fire hazards caused
by poor wiring.

At the announcement where he introduced the newest phase of the law
last Thursday, Ontario's community safety minister said he's
considering a central database of homes where drugs were once made or
grown.

Monte Kwinter said he's looking into creating a provincewide registry
of residences that have been grow ops or methamphetamine labs so
potential buyers can have inspectors look for mould and electrical or
structural damage.

He wouldn't specify a time frame for the registry's launch, saying
only that ministry officials are evaluating how the registry would
work.

Guelph Police already have a page on their website that lists houses
where they've found grow ops.

"This list allows the public to be aware to look for potential hazards
at past (marijuana) growing operations," Constable Earl Layne of the
drug unit noted in an e-mail.