Does anyone know of a resource in Ontario that we can refer to, to determine if a property was a grow operation?
I seem to recall hearing that some provinces have web sites where these properties are listed, and the provincial government here in Ontario talked about setting up a grow op registry about a year ago, but I don’t think it ever came to fruition.
How helpful are local police forces in giving out that kind of information? (I’m guessing that privacy issues would limit what they can say).
Contat your regional Police they can tell you if a grow op or if druggies have lived in the house, explain your a home inspector and doing background on the property for your client, you dont want names just a simple yes or no will suffice
If information on a questionable property is lacking, here’s a few things to keep an eye out for:
evidence of locks on interior doors, keyed or padlock. sometimes the holes have been shoddily repaired
excessive moisture levels where there shouldn’t be.
mold…everywhere - walls floor, trim, ceiling
evidence of hidden rooms, hastily filled in
missing tabs in the breaker panel
stove in place and un-plugged, but wires running elsewhere.
*]a skunky smell to the house or parts thereof.
These are just a few of the most obvious signs. I wouldn’t rely too heavily on Police department information unless there has been a raid and subsequent arrests. Police have been sued before for impling a grow-op existed in a home when no such incident was evident.
Inspected a house last year where they had removed all of the plants but left the pots and numerous leaves on the floor and even in one instance a bag partly filled with leaves in the crawlspace. In addition there was a big plant growing just on the other side of the property line.
The house was not badly affected, it appeared to have been a fairly small operation, not commercial size at all.
2 years ago…a major bust 1 mile away from me…11 million dollars worth of pot.
Once i got to know a few people up here, i found that there are quite a few small ops going on. Not commercial enterprises per se, more like personal use.