OWNERS OF FORMER GROW-OP HOMES ARE LEFT UNPROTECTED BY LAX LAWS

Homeowners Across The Country Face Challenges Obtaining Detailed Information

Gord McCrea and Susan Kammerle bought a home on
the understanding that a marijuana grow-operation
once occupied the basement. But they didn't know
the extent of it. Gord McCrea and Susan Kammerle
bought a home on a quiet cul-de-sac in Maple
Ridge, B.C., last year on the understanding that
a marijuana grow-operation that once occupied the
basement had been small and that there hadn't
been any major tampering with the home's infrastructure.

Provincial court and municipal documents,
however, reveal that the basement grow-op busted
by police in May 2008 consisted of almost 900
plants and that city inspectors ordered the
replacement, cleaning, fixing or testing of the
home's air ducts, gas lines, water lines, plumbing fixtures and circuits.

After reading the documents for the first time,
the couple, who have two teenaged children, went
silent. This information would have been nice to
have from the beginning, they said.

It's your home. It=92s a big investment,=94 Kammerle said.

Their case illustrates the challenge that
homebuyers across Canada sometimes face to get
detailed information about a home's history and =AD
in cases where they do learn about a past
clandestine grow-op or drug lab =AD to decide
whether it's safe to move in or not.

Some politicians, real estate associations and
building experts are calling for better
disclosure practices and uniform standards for
cleaning up homes that may contain toxic mould
and chemicals to give homebuyers greater peace of
mind. Right now, there is no consistent way for
prospective homebuyers to learn about a past grow-op or drug lab.

They might get information from a seller or
realtor. Some public agencies, such as Alberta
Health Services, and some police departments,
including those in Winnipeg and Ottawa, maintain
web pages that show the addresses of illegal drug operations.

And interested buyers might also request records
from municipal building departments or get
information by talking to neighbours.

Some industry observers say a better way to serve
prospective homebuyers would be to require
municipal or provincial authorities to insert
notices about grow-ops and drug labs into land
title documents. But an inevitable question
follows: How long do you keep this information in a property's file?
Forever?

Some in the real estate industry suggest there
wouldn't be a need for the records once the home has been rehabilitated.

Is it fair to have a permanent stigma attached to
a home, especially if a lot of money was spent to
clean up the house, asked Robert Laing, chief
executive officer of the B.C. Real Estate
Association. According to some estimates,
remediation jobs can range from $20,000 to $50,000.

But University of Calgary Professor Tang Lee, who
has studied the issue, suggests keeping the
original notice in the property's file but adding
a follow-up notice to show that the home has undergone remediation.

If the remediation has been done properly, the
value of the home shouldn't drop and might even improve, he added.

But even if disclosure methods are improved that
only takes care of part of the problem, observers say.

While many Canadian municipalities have bylaws in
place that prevent homes with drug operations
from being re-occupied until remediation has been
done, there are no provincial or national
standards guiding the remediation process.

Jesse Schmidt, owner of Medallion Healthy Homes
of Canada, which oversaw the remediation work
done at the Maple Ridge home in 2008, says that
there should be national standards in place.

I know there are a number of fly-by-night
companies that have come and gone here in B.C.
It's a very lucrative industry to be in. I think
standards and credentials got lost in the whole mix of things,=94 he said.

The key for homeowners, he said, is to hire
companies that have been certified by
professional industrial hygiene boards in Canada or the U.S.

Just because a home was used as a grow-op doesn't
necessarily mean that the stigma should carry over forever,=94 Schmidt said.