Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Allison Lampert

GROW-OP HOUSE BUYER 'SHAFTED'

Quebec Home Owner's Plight Reveals Gaps in Vital Info

MONTREAL - The Laval bungalow's entrance closet and pantry appeared 
black and rotten, but Joe Gagliano's children were immediately drawn 
to the spacious suburban house, and the idea of having their own rooms.

It was only after buying the foreclosed home, and removing the 
kitchen cabinets and the bathroom tiles that Gagliano discovered more 
rotten patches. The damage Gagliano said he'd been told was isolated 
to a few rooms and involved $30,000 to repair turned out to be 
widespread - likely the result of the home's former vocation as a 
marijuana grow-op.

"I got the shaft," claims Gagliano, 49, a foreman at a welding 
company. "our broker told us that it was like that because of a leaky 
roof. But this is not $30,000 worth of repairs. It's contaminated to 
the extreme. "If they had told me this had been a grow op, we would 
never have bought it."

Gagliano didn't bring in an inspector when he and his three eldest 
adult sons bought the home without legal warrantee for $162,500 in 
October, 2011 - the family of seven claims their real-estate broker 
told them they didn't have the option of inspecting the house.

But in a motion filed this past week, Gagliano's lawyer Daniel Rafuse 
argued that seller Laurentian Bank still had a "general obligation" 
under Quebec's Civil Code "to act in good faith and to disclose 
information that would play a sure role in one's decision to agree to 
contract."

It is alleged the home was the site of a 2006 police raid that 
uncovered 1,000 marijuana plans.

Gagliano's case is pitting buyers' responsibilities against rising 
demands on owners and brokers to be fully transparent when selling 
homes at a time of soaring prices in key Canadian markets.

Identifying homes once used to manufacture marijuana and 
methamphetamine is critical because residual chemicals, manipulated 
electrical wiring and the presence of mould linked to illicit drug 
production not only substantially raise the cost of repairing these 
homes, but could affect the health of future occupants.

Some police forces like the Surete du Quebec have reported a drop in 
raids on indoor grow ops, from 592 in the 20092010 fiscal year to 499 
during the current year. But Montreal police figures show the volume 
of marijuana plants seized in its territory has exploded from 34,000 
in 2006 to 126,000 last year.

With an estimated 50,000 grow-ops across Canada, illicit drugs have 
been manufactured everywhere from rural b.c. farms, to a Montreal 
frat house, and more recently to condos in Toronto high-rises.

These issues are especially crucial in Quebec, which lags behind 
other Canadian provinces, both in terms of making former grow-op 
addresses available to the public and creating liaisons between law 
enforcement and city health officials to ensure these homes are fit 
for habitation, either by new owners or renters.

The RCMP, along with municipal police forces in Winnipeg and Calgary, 
publish online lists of homes that up to a year ago were discovered 
to be grow-ops or clandestine labs within their respective 
jurisdictions. And Vancouver has a decade old "Grow Busters" program 
that integrates municipal law enforcement with a team that inspects 
buildings damaged because of marijuana grow operations, with the 
power to declare the properties uninhabitable until the requisite 
repairs are completed.

By contrast, neither Montreal Police nor the SQ publish the addresses 
of former grow-ops. Montreal Police will make sure the site is free 
from dangerous wires and other debris, but it's up to the owner - 
upon being informed of the raid - to do any repairs, a spokesperson said.

While sellers and brokers in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. could face 
litigation if it is proven they concealed information about a home 
being a grow-up, such measures provide little solace for the unwitting buyer.

Lawsuits are costly and there have been cases where owners of homes 
used as grow-ops will fix up their properties, sell them quickly and 
take off, said Don Campbell, president of the B.C.-based Real Estate 
Investment Network.
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