Use of residential houses for marijuana growing operations (simply referred to as grow ops) is increasing at an alarming rate. Buyers of houses across the country want to know if their potential properties were ever used for grow ops. The question I have been asked several times is, “if a house was renovated after these operations, is there a simple test that can be conducted to tell if the house was ever used for these operations?” Their major concern is mould. Unfortunately there no mould test that I know of that can tell whether a property was ever used for marijuana growing. As a potential buyer my concern would not be whether the property was used for grow ops or not, unless the fact that it was ever used for grow ops would bother me or my family. I would be concerned about 2 things:

1. Whether the property was structurally sound and met all the building codes. Grow ops may involve tempering with some of the building systems thus violating the building codes. Also, due to high humidity, mould growth may damage and weaken the wooden structure of the building.
2. Whether there were abnormally high concentrations of hazardous contaminants such as pesticides, biological contaminants (mould, bacteria, mites, etc.), and other well known indoor contaminants.

If I am happy with 1 & 2 above, only other considerations would stop me from buying the property if I liked it.



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