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PATCHOULI??

Or marijuana??? What is that smell??? If your guess was marijuana, you are correct.

What a landlord nightmare! He was trying to sell his occupied investment property. The tenants were kids. (POT ENTREPRENEURS) to be exact. Grow lights in the closets were helping a thriving crop.

The listing was not mine. I immediately notified the listing agent to let her know about the "plants". She in turn had the responsibility of notifying the owner. He should have let the authorities know what was going on in this house.

I am not sure if this was the correct step to take regarding the marijuana, but is was the way I decided to handle this situation.

Have you ever had this experience?? How did you handle it?

Posted by Janice Lipka on 04/21/2007 09:33 AM

Comments (12)

12 Comments on PATCHOULI??

APR

2007

Yesterday was 4/20. You should have posted this yesterday. LOL (National Get Stoned Day 4/20) I read it in a book, I swear!

Never had this experience but the listing agent should at the very least be checking on the property when they list it (not to mention the owner).

Wow... I am amazed a home ever got to the point where clients viewed it with that stuff still in there. Talk about not prepping your listing!

I would have done what you did in this case. I have come across a number of illegal activities while viewing properties that ranged from drug use to domestic violence. In the case of the domestic violence, I walked out of the home and immediately notified the police.

Hi Chris, This should be a national holiday!!

Hi Jon, You would think someone would be checking on the condition of this home, The agent at least. Maybe she didn't know what was going on in the house.

Hi Robert, We do come across something different every day. This was a first for me. I did have agent that witnessed some domestic violence

God, I miss the 1970's....

Just, kidding.... (sorta)

Yes, you need to notify the listing agent of the tenants. And, yes, the listing agent needs to notify the seller....

In Iowa, at least, if the tenants of a rental property are engaging in illegal activities (such as growing marijuana, or cooking METH), and the owner is aware of it and does nothing about it, the landlord can be held accountable for it, and could (potentially) have the property seized form them by the police..

Or, at the very least, lose thier rental license and have to reapply in a year--- which tends to reduce the market value of an income property...

JUST SAY NO!!!!

You did the right thing. What is sad is that YOU instead of the LISTING AGENT had to inform the owner. If I were the owner, I would be extremely displeased with my listing agent and/or my property management firm (if one is involved). Clearly, some steps of responsibility to the owner are missing here. And how dumb are the renters to know that the home is listed for sale, but yet do nothing to cover up their enterprise? Interesting scenerio!

APR

2007

Janice,

Thanks for the post. Can't say I have ever had the experience. Clearly you did the correct thing. Hopefully, the listing agent informed the owner.

Good Morning Paul, Hopefully the owner did not have any idea what was going on. I am not so sure about the agent.

Hi Louann, That was my feeling. Maybe the tenants were so spaced that their brains were fried. Hopefully, The landlord was not local. But what happened to the listing agent? Didn't she know what was growing???

Good Morning William, I hope she turned them in. I never called her to find out.

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