Seven homes in the Prince George area are on a national list of marijuana grow operations released by the RCMP on Wednesday.
B.C. Northern Real Estate Board vice-president Joni Brown said releasing addresses for former marijuana grow operations is a step in the right direction.
"It's an exciting step by the RCMP to do this - we're thrilled," Brown said. "It's there to protect the innocent. There can be serious electrical issues, there can be mold... chemicals."
Sellers are supposed to disclose if a property has been used for a marijuana grow operation, she said. However there are sometimes where a property seller may legitimately not know the history of the home - or may intentionally hide it.
"There is some really nice homes in town that have been grow-ops. To the untrained eye, you could never tell. Even to the trained eye it can be difficult - people are very good at hiding it," Brown said.
Brown heads the board's committee on grow-ops, and said her committee will be looking at how to ensure the information is available to real estate agents and their clients.
"Ultimately we'd like to see it on title that it's a former grow-op - and that it's been remediated," Brown said. "Right now there is no provincial standard for what is a remediated home."
Currently police and municipalities do not register a grow-op on the land title.
City action
It's been a year since the city enacted it's controlled substances production bylaw, which gives the city authority to work with police to conduct mandatory health, building code and fire inspections on properties identified as marijuana grow-ops.
City bylaw services manager Guy Gusdal said inspectors have acted on the bylaw an average of once a month since the bylaw came into effect.
"The tend to come and go in waves," he said. "[But] we're generally getting all of them. They [police] will usually advise us and we'll arrange for an inspection after the fact."
If inspectors find violations, a no occupancy order can be placed on the home until the problems are corrected. Originally the city considered placing a notice on the title of former grow-ops, but legal challenges of similar bylaws in the Lower Mainland stalled that initiative.
"It was felt is wasn't necessary to post things on title," Gusdal said.
