DOPES PAY MORE

Being A Landlord In North Vancouver City Just Became A Lot More
Onerous.

Monday night, city council unanimously adopted the Properties
Involving Controlled Substances Bylaw. As a result, landlords will
need to become more proactive in ensuring their tenants are not using
any portion of the rental property for the illegal purpose of growing,
manufacturing or shooting drugs.

The bylaw is primarily aimed at grow-ops where damage done to homes
can include dangerous rewiring of hydro lines; wall, floor and ceiling
damage; and water and mould damage. But chemical labs too leave unsafe
products and residue behind.

In addition to any repairs to their property in the wake of grow-ops
etc. being closed down, owners will now be footing the bill for all
police and municipal time invested in the investigation, search,
seizure and cleanup.

That time won't come cheaply and, in addition, the bylaw requires a
Special Safety Inspection in the event that electricity, water or gas
supply has been altered or "hazardous conditions" exist on the
property. That's a minimum of $650 on top of convictions under the
bylaw itself worth $500 to $5,000 in fines.

If offences continue, you can be liable for each day the offence
continues. Ka-ching, ka-ching! It has been reported that Surrey has
recovered $700,000 in police costs since introducing a similar bylaw
in 2001.

West Vancouver will be considering a similar bylaw in a week or two
and North Vancouver District is not far behind. This is good news for
the general taxpayer and a wake-up call for lazy landlords.