LANDLORD LEARNS HARD LESSON

Property owners in Richmond who lease warehouse space with few questions
asked should take a page from Dave Aubin's hard-lessons book.

The Richmond businessman is facing financial ruin as a result of a fire in
a warehouse he was subletting.

The warehouse, at 11091 Bridgeport Rd., was being used for a marijuana
growing operation and went up in flames June 19.

Aubin was in the Philippines when the fire broke out, and was stunned to
learn the tenant he had been subletting space to for about seven months was
growing pot.

Aubin lost $250,000 worth of goods, for which he had no fire insurance.

Asked why he had no fire insurance, Aubin said: "Because I'm stupid, I
guess - I don't know."

To make matters worse, Aubin said the burned out building continues to be
targeted by thieves and vandals. He claims police are doing nothing to stop it.

"There's no serving, no protecting in this city," Aubin said at a
hastily-called press conference yesterday morning. "The cops do nothing."

Cpl. Kate Anderson, a spokesperson for the Richmond RCMP, said it's hard
for police to help Aubin if he will not co-operate with them.

"The RCMP actually did attend this morning and were asked to leave the
premises," she said. "At this time, he's refusing any help from the RCMP.
We are more than willing to help him."

Aubin does not own the warehouse. It's owned by Vancouver-based Broadway
Properties, however, it was being managed by Gateway Property Management
Corporation at the time of the blaze.

Aubin was leasing space, and was subletting to four other tenants.

He said the person who was subletting the space when the grow-op was found
vanished after the fire. Aubin doesn't know anything about that individual
beyond his first name.

"I only know him by the name of Tom," Aubin said. "He's disappeared. All
his cellphones have been disconnected. I can tell you he was referred to me
by a person I had confidence in."

Asked if he ever inspected the premises, he said he didn't.

This is not the first time Aubin has had problems with tenants. In 2003,
the warehouse became the subject of a police investigation when an
undisclosed quantity of blood was found. After an investigation involving
35 to 40 officers, Aubin said the blood turned out to be deer blood.

Anderson said police can only do so much, noting that property owners need
to take some responsibility for protecting their own property.

Aubin said he plans to do just that.

"I've got a baseball bat in my truck. I catch anybody on this property,
he's not walking out of here," he said.