GROW-OP HISTORY SOUGHT

Home vendors will soon be required to disclose to prospective buyers
whether the property has ever been used to grow marijuana, or perhaps even
housed a drug lab.

The B.C. Real Estate Association has decided to amend the Property
Disclosure Statement, requiring sellers to indicate whether a property has
been used as a marijuana grow operation or to manufacture illegal drugs.
"Grow ops and illegal drug operations can produce property defects and
other hazards that are major concerns for the public," said BCREA president
David Herman.

"We made this decision in consultation with our member boards and Inspector
Paul Nadeau of the RCMP, who's responsible for the combined police effort
to battle grow-ops and illegal drugs in BC."

New questions will be added to two province-wide forms known as Property
Disclosure Statements; one for residential properties, the other for strata
title properties. The grow-op amendments came at the request of both the
Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) and the Fraser Valley Real
Estate Board in December. The disclosure statements provide a written
review of the condition of a property for sale.

The residential form will be amended to include the question: Are you aware
if the premises or property have been used as a marijuana grow operation or
to manufacture illegal drugs? Strata owners will be asked: Are you aware if
the unit has been used as a marijuana grow operation or to manufacture
illegal drugs? These changes will be added to the electronic forms in the
next few days.

Marijuana grow ops have the potential to produce property defects like wood
rot, mould deposits and property crimes like grow rips (robberies)," said
REBGV president Bill Binnie. Reg Davies, president of the FVREB, said
realtors have expressed great concern about how to protect both themselves
and their clients from the risks related to grow ops. "We have concluded
that the only legal and principled way to deal with this is to use
disclosure statements backed up by thorough house inspections," Davies said.