Is your tenant growing cannabis? 10 March 2009 at 4:34PM in House buying, renting & selling 25 replies 17.6K views

[Deleted User]

and wrecking your property

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7934312.stm

m_13

My sister's neighbours in Leicester decided to move and rented out their property. The tenants who moved in put up very clever window covers that were photographs that looked as though you were looking into a normal room from the outside. They then started a cannibis farm and bypassed the electricity meter.

They were caught - I think by the police using heat sensitive cameras to identify very hot houses - and the landlord quite shocked. The house was a complete wreck mainly due to the fact that it had been turned into a greenhouse.

I think regular inspections are the only to discover these but it's frightening.

Robert_Sterling_3

If your tenants are growing cannabis would you grass them up.

poppysarah

m_13 wrote: »

My sister's neighbours in Leicester decided to move and rented out their property. The tenants who moved in put up very clever window covers that were photographs that looked as though you were looking into a normal room from the outside.

Intrigued! I could do this and then the neighbours would think my house was tidy if they looked in

1984ReturnsForReal_2

m_13 wrote: »

They then started a cannibis farm and bypassed the electricity meter.

They were caught - I think by the police using heat sensitive cameras to identify very hot houses - and the landlord quite shocked. The house was a complete wreck mainly due to the fact that it had been turned into a greenhouse.

I think regular inspections are the only to discover these but it's frightening.

Lesson being:

"If you want to grow weed in your home (or someone elses) go for a home energy grant & make sure you have adequate insulation first"

Geenie

Yep, recently evicted tenants were growing plants and were smoking their heads off, their young teenage children included. They could barely function.

TJ27

About a year ago I surveyed a house for a landlord, who lived about 200 miles away. The house was in very good condition and well above the minimum standards required for renting. He seemed an excellent landlord and had a very good agent to sort things out locally.

Six months later I was due to visit again. I discovered that the place had been turned into a cannabis factory. The electricity meter had been bypassed but the electric company estimated the bill to be three grand. They wanted their money. "How on earth do they know how much juice has been used if the meter has been bypassed?" I asked. Apparently they can estimate it fairly accurately by the size and number of the plants.

Whereas landlords who live locally can keep an eye on their rental houses, distant ones can't. And I very much doubt that local agents can be bothered to be particularly vigilant.

Geenie

I am advertising a property at the moment, and because of recent episodes in Devon and Cornwall I am trying to bear all of this in mind. The past tenants in all honesty only had one plant for their own use, but a factory would be a whole different kettle of fish!!:eek:

Any idea of the nationality of the tenants, as going on recent stories down here, there seems to be a running theme of Vietnamese being involved?

russ21282

m_13 wrote: »

They were caught - I think by the police using heat sensitive cameras to identify very hot houses

Apparently they don't do that. It would cost far too much to fly around cities using thermal imaging cameras to catch a few weed growers. They are usually caught by, bypassing the meter or stealing a neighbours electric or somebody reporting suspicious activity!

TJ27

I've heard that thermal imaging cameras in helicopters is the way they do it. Certainly I regularly see a helicopter overhead. I guess it must be police by the way they hover about, not appearing to go anywhere. Whether they're checking for weed growers or searching for other miscreants I couldn't tell you but the eye in the sky is certainly there.

poppysarah

They act on inteligence gathered from the public. We're always being asked to look out for them in our homewatch newsletter.