The conversion of rental houses into grow houses is "a growing concern..."
A police raid of a Willow Creek rental house Monday reportedly uncovered hundreds of marijuana plants, cultivated in a large-scale growing operation.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Drug Enforcement Unit served a search warrant on the house, located near Highway 96, which the agency reported had a number of modifications made to its electrical and heating systems to support 563 plants growing inside....
...Investigators found that the house -- modified without the owner's permission -- was no longer in livable condition, and will require extensive repair, Godsey said.
”From our perspective, what was more significant about this was the conversion of the house,” she said. “It brings a whole mess of problems with it.”
Godsey said the Sheriff's Office has witnessed an increase in Humboldt County homes being rented and converted to cultivate marijuana, which she said “certainly is a growing concern.”
Homeowners are often responsible for bearing the cost of repairs, Godsey said. “You can imagine the heartbreak of seeing your property damaged to that degree.” TS Willow Creek home full of pot plants
She's right. Does anyone know of any instances where the pot growers have paid for the damage?
rose,
ReplyDeletemost growers are in partnerships with landlords. the costs and profits are divided among the participants.
very few people would have the nerve to grow pot at a house that the landlord did not allow it. even less people than that would destoy personal property in order to grow.
when a landlord claims they didnt know about it, i am always suspicious. as a landlord, i know that it would be very tough to grow without me knowing about it. most of these people are happy getting $3000 a month for a house that is worth about $1200 a month, but when the cops come in, they play dumb.
Rose:
ReplyDeletetheotherme is totally disconnected from reality when he writes: "most growers are in partnerships with landlords. the costs and profits are divided among the participants.
very few people would have the nerve to grow pot at a house that the landlord did not allow it. even less people than that would destoy personal property in order to grow."
No - most landlords are getting totally screwed by this illegal activity. Theotherme needs to get out more if he really believes what he wrote.
I don't think most landlords are partnering with the growers. We have had small grows in one rental house that they partially repaired the walls as they were only growing in two rooms. Thought that was nice of them. But have seen houses almost destroyed by the holes and mold. Some insurance companies might pay under valdalism but most have a mold exclusion.
ReplyDeleteUnless you live next door how would you know. Can someone explain this to me??
who owns a property and never checks on it? negligence is no excuse.....
ReplyDeletehere are some clues:
smell of pot
sound of exhaust fans
discarded potting soil
pot leaves littering property
trimmers on scene
dreadlocked kids
out of state plates
holes in walls
holes in floors
electricy bill through the roof
if you are a landlord, you either are collecting money from the grow, turning a blind eye to the grow, or you care so little about your property that you NEVER check on it.
There may be some landlords in collusion, but most are not. And many, out of respect and old habits, do not bother the tenants. It's a new day where you have to do monthly inspections to protect yourself from this shit.
ReplyDeleteAnd most landlords never see the PG&E bill. Nor do they want it in their name or THEY would be on the hook for those enormous bills.
I know of several people just here in McKinleyville who had enormous cash outlays to replace the entire interiors when they found the tenants had filled the house with dirt and had an indoor grow. Mold, sheetrock, wiring - it's a big problem.
And no one, Theo, has the right to do that to someone else's property. 215 or not.
If Prop 215 is a moral issue - you ought to be able to expect some level of morality back, no?
Do you know of any cases where the tenants PAID FOR THE DAMAGE?
i would imagine that many of the ruined rentals are managed by property management companies. that is why i would never think of having anyone other than myself manage my properties.
ReplyDeleteagain, negligence is no excuse. either take better care of your rentals, get out of the rental market, or be prepared for the worse. being a landlord is not a hands-off job. that is, unless you are recieving envelopes of money in addition to the reported rent.
ive known plenty of growers in my time. i cant think of any that has ever successfully grown in a place that the owner did not approve. maybe times are changing though. the clubs around the state may be creating more of a demand for humboldt weed.
That's a pretty hard cold 'blame the victim' statement.
ReplyDeleteThe ones I have known were just nice people. They rented to nice young couples, or college students, and never dreamed what was to come.
Times have changed, Now they have to be tougher, and they have to inspect. Not very fair for all the innocent people who now have to suffer this increased level of scrutiny, this breach of privacy.
Funny how so many who screech about the Patriot Act violating someone's privacy take exactly your stance, and ignore this basic very local and very personal affront.
Kind of like the people who think it is ok for people to spy on beachgoers with binocs so that they can allegedly turn in vehicles - and that gets excused away with 'well, if you're not doing anything wrong you shouldn't mind if they are up there spying on you.' But the Patriot Act, oh my.
When you rent someone's house, you are borrowing it. You are paying for the privilege of borrowing it because you do not have one of your own. YOu have an obligation to take care of it and return it in good condition. If it is your own house, trash away.
Violating the landowners like this only hurts the next renter, and, like I said, impinges on the next guy's privacy and creates a world that isn't what we all want to live in. One of suspicion and monitoring, excessive rules and red tape.
Theo is off his meds again.
ReplyDeleteNothing new there. I'd hate to work for someone that righteous and so mixed up.
ReplyDeleteNah. He's right. Some landlords undoubtedly have deals. Some may do it that way to avoid liability. Renters use rentals because they can walk away scott-free.
ReplyDeleteThe resultant tightening of rental contracts has some landlords writing in NO LIVE PLANTS - not even house plants are allowed.
And that's the deal - something that was intended as a compassionate use, letting people grow their own plants for their own consumption, free from fear, has now been ruined by the profiteers and con men.
Ultimately growing will be forced into AG zones, and it will once again be illegal to grow in a residential neighborhood, and all because people abused a good thing.
Too bad.
im off my meds because i check my properties often? whatever you say!!!
ReplyDeletewhen people rent from me, i make it clear that growing is not ok, and that inspections will be random. if the patriot act makes it easier for me, so be it.
at least i have soltions. all i hear from others is complaining. what do you want? BIG BROTHER to come in and stop the "problem"? im a big boy, and i can watch over my own rentals.
I think you are doing it right. I just think it is sad that people are having to look with so much more suspicion at their tenants. As usual, the few spoil it for the many. The bad spoil it for the good.
ReplyDeleteYou are a little boy with a big ego problem. Yes you might even function well at times--BUT-- PlEASE--- all one has to do is read your Bi-Polar posts over a bit of time to know you are way out dude. Way out!
ReplyDelete5:16,
ReplyDeleterose is a female, not a little boy. i like many of her posts, so dont talk about her that way.
Thanks for proving the point. You always get the Bi stuff confused you silly closet dweller.
ReplyDeleteC'mon 6:46 - there are real bad guys to go after. I've looked back over what Theo has had to say to try to figure out what it is that sets you off - he often plays contrarian or devil's advocate, but that's fair - and he asks for details and clarification - I respect that.
ReplyDeleteHe's right about the sometimes symbiotic relationship between landlords and growers. I think it goes farther than that sometimes. Sometimes the landlord sets up the deal and the "tenant" is more of an employee or partial partner.
Comes back to the profit - and profiteering - people growing not for the medicinal purposes but flat out to sell dope.
There are people who grow, provide to "clinics" and declare the income and pay taxes on it - did you know that?
Theo is never right about anything. I used to think he was mixed up but now I think he just has a twisted sense of humor and a cockeyed ego.
ReplyDeleteBecause of these (*&*^$%$ growers property owners have kicked up the security deposits. Making a bit of a hardchip on students and ...... other people.
It is hard to tell what's Theo's deal. Scattered? Weird? Unhappy? Frustrated? Mean? Nuts? Educated withou a clue? Boring? Sounds like a Arcata lib in hiding. Theo you might be the finest fellow in the world or the goofy"st but on the blogs you will get an instant reply on your tenor.Don't whine about it.
ReplyDeleteI've known of landlords in Mendocino Co. who rented to dope growers & shared in the profits (but not the responsibility if busted) but most of them had 20 or more acres with barns & outbuildings to rent. I'm a little suspicious of landlords who don't know what their property is being used for, too, but I've never known a landlord to intentionally rent out a perfectly good house to be filled up with dirt & water.
ReplyDeleteThere was a bust on Spy Rock a few years ago in which several new houses were found to be nothing but grow houses. From the outside, the houses looked like family homes - two-story, big porches, curtains in the windows, rockers on the porches, animals & toys in the yards - but the insides were nothing but green houses.
It will take more than increased security deposits to cover the potential losses landlords fear now. As with other crimes, 10:04, it is the honest people who will pay for the thieves among us.
im a closet conservative, im not weird...i just dont want my friends to know that i agree with warmongering, homophobic, scaredycats on some issues.
ReplyDeleteits called open-mindedness, try it sometime.
im a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, deal with it.
10:04 & 7:15:
ReplyDeletei aint often right, but ive never been wrong. it seldom turns out the way it does in the song.
robin,
ReplyDeletewhy are you assuming that the landowners didnt know about the grow on spy rock road? it would be hard NOT to notice new buildings on your property.
if i saw new buildings on my property, id be asking alot of questions.
How theodiculous.
ReplyDeleteI rarely assume anything, Tom, but I guess I didn't make myself very clear. The owners of the grow houses were behind the entire operation & were the ones busted.
ReplyDelete