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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom