May 6, 2006: THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Police say all of the homes above were once used to grow marijuana, though the current owners may not even know it.  PETER CHENEY reports on a new initiative heading for debate at city council that would help interested buyers track a house's criminal past

Aside from the boarded-up garage door and the tightly drawn blinds, there are few signs of 137 Lionhead Trail's criminal past.  At first glance, it looks the same as the homes around it -- a modest brick bungalow, with a picture window and a pair of sun-bleached plastic lawn chairs on the front porch.

But this home in eastern Scarborough is anything but your average fixer-upper.  Not long ago, police swept in and raided a marijuana-growing operation that had converted it into an indoor farm yielding millions in illicit profits.

The neighbours were stunned.  "We never imagined what was going on," says Connie Conroy, who has lived on the street for decades.  "We couldn't believe it."

Until recently, the house's history as a marijuana grow-op might have been kept secret -- with a coat of paint and strategic repairs, it could have been sold to a buyer who had no way of knowing it had been used for an enterprise that can cause so much damage that a complete teardown may be the only option.

But thanks to a controversial new initiative by Councillor Mike Del Grande, that house on Lionhead Trail could get the real-estate equivalent of a scarlet letter: a requirement that a home's history as a grow-op be attached to its title, making its past impossible to conceal.

What happened on Lionhead Trail is already out in the open -- at least for those who care to look.  Along with dozens of other homes in the same area, the house was recently listed in a 42 Division police bulletin, available online, that identified it as the site of a grow-op.

"People should know what's going on," says Mr.  Del Grande, who has filed a notice of motion at City Hall calling for the new title requirement.  "What if some couple who have been saving for 10 years to put together a down payment moves in and finds out [the place used to be] a grow-op?"

If the councillor gets his way, the police list will be just one part of an unprecedented disclosure process.

"I think it's the way things should go," Mr.  Del Grande says.  "This is a huge problem."

Others agree.

"I think it's a great idea," says Toronto Real Estate Board president John Meehan.  "It would take out a lot of uncertainty." The current system, he points out, depends on a seller's integrity.  Buyers can ask for a Seller Property Information Statement ( SPIS ), which requires the seller to declare known defects, including past use for "the growth or manufacture of illegal substances." But not everyone asks for an SPIS -- and an unscrupulous seller can simply lie.

"Right now, it really comes down to people's honesty," Mr.  Meehan says.  "And in some cases, that doesn't work."

Indoor marijuana cultivation has become a genuine boom industry, rapidly replacing much riskier cross-border smuggling as a criminal activity.  Some police officials believe grow-ops now account for the production of about half the marijuana consumed in Canada, and suburban areas such as Scarborough have become favoured locations, due to the high concentrations of homes with attached garages, which allow supplies and marijuana to come and go inconspicuously.

In Mr.  Del Grande's ward, police have uncovered more than 400 grow-ops in less than two years' time.  The councillor's interest in the phenomenon was born of first-hand experience: In 2004, police raided a grow-op across the street from his own home, near Kennedy and McNicoll.

"People have no idea," he says.  "There are thousands of them out there."

Bob Aaron, a Toronto real-estate lawyer, says there is concern among real-estate agents, who worry -- with cause -- about the liability they could face if a buyer learns that he has bought a former grow-op.  A few months ago, Mr.  Aaron was asked to teach a grow-op seminar at a Real Estate Industry of Canada convention, in which he showed agents how to spot a grow-op and protect buyers.

Mr.  Aaron says there is little to prevent an unscrupulous homeowner from selling a house that has been used for such a purpose.  "If you do a fix-up, people may never find out" until the damage becomes apparent, and expensive, he says.  "It really is a case of caveat emptor."

Under Ontario law, home sellers are required to disclose known defects such as termite damage or structural problems.  A history as a marijuana grow-op would fall into the same category, but there's no guarantee that a seller will disclose the fact -- Mr.  Aaron has received several inquiries from recent buyers who have learned that their homes were used as grow-ops.  He has advised them that they can sue the seller -- providing the seller is still around.  They can also sue the agent involved in the sale, but in such a case they would have to prove that the agent was aware of the defect.

Darren Cooper, an engineer who heads CLEAR, a Mississauga-based environmental consulting firm that has done extensive work on grow-ops, has seen first-hand what they can do to a home, and to the unlucky owners.

His clients have run the gamut.  One was a young graphic artist who paid top dollar for a Scarborough home with his girlfriend, only to learn from neighbours that previously it had been raided as a grow-op.  After having it inspected by Mr.  Cooper's firm, the new owner learned that the house would need thousands of dollars worth of repairs to eliminate toxic mould.

Another case involved a couple who had rented out their house for more than a year only to discover that it also had been used as a grow-op, causing damage that would cost more than $200,000 to repair.  Although they had visited the home every month to collect the rent, the tenants had been clever.  They kept the first floor filled with furniture, and on rent day they brought in children, to make it appear that a normal family was living there.  But the basement and top floor were filled with plants and equipment.

"It was pretty ingenious," Mr.  Cooper says.

Fixing such a house can be difficult.  Growers tear out walls, hack into the electrical system and install irrigation pipes.  They put up high-powered lamps, which produce interior temperatures that can reach higher than 35 C.  High moisture levels and the use of chemical fertilizers rust pipes and ductwork, destroy furnaces and lead to the growth of various toxic moulds.  Some houses have been filled with dirt, the rooms converted into miniature farm fields, with dirty running water soaking into the walls and supporting structures.

"Some of the houses end up as teardowns," says Alister Haddad, managing director of EMC Scientific, a Mississauga laboratory that specializes in environmental testing.  Mr.  Haddad says grow-ops produce moulds that include penicillium, cladosporium and stachybotrys.  In extreme cases, the moulds penetrate the home's framework, making them nearly impossible to remove.

Mr.  Cooper says a typical home inspection would not usually uncover a grow-op that had been cosmetically made over.  "Most people spend three or four hundred dollars on a home inspector who has no experience with grow-ops," he says.  "It's easy to miss."

A proper environmental assessment would typically cost $1,500 to $2,500.  Mr.  Cooper thinks Mr.  Del Grande's idea of attaching the history to a title to warn potential buyers is a good one.

"There's a lot of money at stake," he says.  "People should know what they're getting into.  The system shouldn't just depend on people's honesty."

How to spot a grow-op

According to police and real-estate experts, the following can be signs that a house in your neighbourhood is being used as a grow-op:

Residents drive expensive vehicles, but do not appear to go to work on a regular basis.

Residents arrive and depart exclusively through automatic garage doors.

There are dark coverings over the windows.

There is heavy condensation on the windows.

There's an absence of frost or snow on the roof in winter.

There is an unusual number of roof vents -- or unusual amounts of steam coming from vents in cold weather.

There are extra security measures in place, such as new fencing, guard dogs and window bars.

Strange odours can be detected.

Sounds can be heard of electrical humming, fans or trickling water.

Modified wiring can be seen on the exterior of the house.

There are localized power surges or brownouts.

Toys and bikes are left outside,

but there is no other evidence of children.

Quantities of growing equipment and supplies are taken into the house, shed or garage.

Visitors park down the street and walk to the house.