SPOT THE GROW-OP

Police say all of the homes above were once used to grow marijuana,
though the current owners may not even know it. PETER CHENEY reports
on a new initiative heading for debate at city council that would
help interested buyers track a house's criminal past

Aside from the boarded-up garage door and the tightly drawn blinds,
there are few signs of 137 Lionhead Trail's criminal past. At first
glance, it looks the same as the homes around it -- a modest brick
bungalow, with a picture window and a pair of sun-bleached plastic
lawn chairs on the front porch.

But this home in eastern Scarborough is anything but your average
fixer-upper. Not long ago, police swept in and raided a
marijuana-growing operation that had converted it into an indoor farm
yielding millions in illicit profits.

The neighbours were stunned. "We never imagined what was going on,"
says Connie Conroy, who has lived on the street for decades. "We
couldn't believe it."

Until recently, the house's history as a marijuana grow-op might have
been kept secret -- with a coat of paint and strategic repairs, it
could have been sold to a buyer who had no way of knowing it had been
used for an enterprise that can cause so much damage that a complete
teardown may be the only option.

But thanks to a controversial new initiative by Councillor Mike Del
Grande, that house on Lionhead Trail could get the real-estate
equivalent of a scarlet letter: a requirement that a home's history
as a grow-op be attached to its title, making its past impossible to conceal.

What happened on Lionhead Trail is already out in the open -- at
least for those who care to look. Along with dozens of other homes in
the same area, the house was recently listed in a 42 Division police
bulletin, available online, that identified it as the site of a grow-op.

"People should know what's going on," says Mr. Del Grande, who has
filed a notice of motion at City Hall calling for the new title
requirement. "What if some couple who have been saving for 10 years
to put together a down payment moves in and finds out [the place used
to be] a grow-op?"

If the councillor gets his way, the police list will be just one part
of an unprecedented disclosure process.

"I think it's the way things should go," Mr. Del Grande says. "This
is a huge problem."

Others agree.

"I think it's a great idea," says Toronto Real Estate Board president
John Meehan. "It would take out a lot of uncertainty." The current
system, he points out, depends on a seller's integrity. Buyers can
ask for a Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS), which
requires the seller to declare known defects, including past use for
"the growth or manufacture of illegal substances." But not everyone
asks for an SPIS -- and an unscrupulous seller can simply lie.

"Right now, it really comes down to people's honesty," Mr. Meehan
says. "And in some cases, that doesn't work."

Indoor marijuana cultivation has become a genuine boom industry,
rapidly replacing much riskier cross-border smuggling as a criminal
activity. Some police officials believe grow-ops now account for the
production of about half the marijuana consumed in Canada, and
suburban areas such as Scarborough have become favoured locations,
due to the high concentrations of homes with attached garages, which
allow supplies and marijuana to come and go inconspicuously.

In Mr. Del Grande's ward, police have uncovered more than 400
grow-ops in less than two years' time. The councillor's interest in
the phenomenon was born of first-hand experience: In 2004, police
raided a grow-op across the street from his own home, near Kennedy
and McNicoll.

"People have no idea," he says. "There are thousands of them out there."

Bob Aaron, a Toronto real-estate lawyer, says there is concern among
real-estate agents, who worry -- with cause -- about the liability
they could face if a buyer learns that he has bought a former
grow-op. A few months ago, Mr. Aaron was asked to teach a grow-op
seminar at a Real Estate Industry of Canada convention, in which he
showed agents how to spot a grow-op and protect buyers.

Mr. Aaron says there is little to prevent an unscrupulous homeowner
from selling a house that has been used for such a purpose. "If you
do a fix-up, people may never find out" until the damage becomes
apparent, and expensive, he says. "It really is a case of caveat emptor."

Under Ontario law, home sellers are required to disclose known
defects such as termite damage or structural problems. A history as a
marijuana grow-op would fall into the same category, but there's no
guarantee that a seller will disclose the fact -- Mr. Aaron has
received several inquiries from recent buyers who have learned that
their homes were used as grow-ops. He has advised them that they can
sue the seller -- providing the seller is still around. They can also
sue the agent involved in the sale, but in such a case they would
have to prove that the agent was aware of the defect.

Darren Cooper, an engineer who heads CLEAR, a Mississauga-based
environmental consulting firm that has done extensive work on
grow-ops, has seen first-hand what they can do to a home, and to the
unlucky owners.

His clients have run the gamut. One was a young graphic artist who
paid top dollar for a Scarborough home with his girlfriend, only to
learn from neighbours that previously it had been raided as a
grow-op. After having it inspected by Mr. Cooper's firm, the new
owner learned that the house would need thousands of dollars worth of
repairs to eliminate toxic mould.

Another case involved a couple who had rented out their house for
more than a year only to discover that it also had been used as a
grow-op, causing damage that would cost more than $200,000 to repair.
Although they had visited the home every month to collect the rent,
the tenants had been clever. They kept the first floor filled with
furniture, and on rent day they brought in children, to make it
appear that a normal family was living there. But the basement and
top floor were filled with plants and equipment.

"It was pretty ingenious," Mr. Cooper says.

Fixing such a house can be difficult. Growers tear out walls, hack
into the electrical system and install irrigation pipes. They put up
high-powered lamps, which produce interior temperatures that can
reach higher than 35 C. High moisture levels and the use of chemical
fertilizers rust pipes and ductwork, destroy furnaces and lead to the
growth of various toxic moulds. Some houses have been filled with
dirt, the rooms converted into miniature farm fields, with dirty
running water soaking into the walls and supporting structures.

"Some of the houses end up as teardowns," says Alister Haddad,
managing director of EMC Scientific, a Mississauga laboratory that
specializes in environmental testing. Mr. Haddad says grow-ops
produce moulds that include penicillium, cladosporium and
stachybotrys. In extreme cases, the moulds penetrate the home's
framework, making them nearly impossible to remove.

Mr. Cooper says a typical home inspection would not usually uncover a
grow-op that had been cosmetically made over. "Most people spend
three or four hundred dollars on a home inspector who has no
experience with grow-ops," he says. "It's easy to miss."

A proper environmental assessment would typically cost $1,500 to
$2,500. Mr. Cooper thinks Mr. Del Grande's idea of attaching the
history to a title to warn potential buyers is a good one.

"There's a lot of money at stake," he says. "People should know what
they're getting into. The system shouldn't just depend on people's honesty."

How to spot a grow-op

According to police and real-estate experts, the following can be
signs that a house in your neighbourhood is being used as a grow-op:

Residents drive expensive vehicles, but do not appear to go to work
on a regular basis.

Residents arrive and depart exclusively through automatic garage doors.

There are dark coverings over the windows.

There is heavy condensation on the windows.

There's an absence of frost or snow on the roof in winter.

There is an unusual number of roof vents -- or unusual amounts of
steam coming from vents in cold weather.

There are extra security measures in place, such as new fencing,
guard dogs and window bars.

Strange odours can be detected.

Sounds can be heard of electrical humming, fans or trickling water.

Modified wiring can be seen on the exterior of the house.

There are localized power surges or brownouts.

Toys and bikes are left outside,

but there is no other evidence of children.

Quantities of growing equipment and supplies are taken into the
house, shed or garage.

Visitors park down the street and walk to the house.