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Simon Parker
In what is also becoming a major issue for Australian principals, the owner of a real estate agency in Canada helped police investigate one of his own agents for two years as part of a probe into illegal drug laboratories.
Gerry Weir, owner of London, Ontario-based Sutton Group Preferred Realty, said he became suspicious about the activities of Thu Tran, an independent contractor, in October 2010 after noticing that three of the four homes recently added to the London Police Service's Marijuana Grow-Op Registry were sold by her.
“I immediately contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after concluding that one of my independent contractors had sold homes that were subsequently seized by police as marijuana grow operations," Mr Weir said.
“I offered my full cooperation and agreed to provide any information useful to the investigation.”
The news comes not long after a warning issued by Qld-based Stacey Holt, company director at real estate industry-focused education and professional development firm Real Estate Excellence, in The Property Management Journal Summer 2012, who said that an increasing number of property managers are finding illegal drug laboratories in rental properties.
In an article entitled, ‘Drug Labs – the dreadful reality for property managers’, Ms Holt said the issue is now an “alarming problem”, and all property managers must be on the lookout for drug labs.
Insurance company Terri Scheer also raised the issue recently, alerting principals and property managers to the telltale signs of drug production activity in rental properties.
“Tenants involved in illicit drug manufacture can go to great lengths to hide such activities from property managers and may abscond before their lease is up for renewal, so they can be difficult to detect if you do not know what to look out for,” Terri Scheer insurance manager, Carolyn Majda, said in late March.
At the RCMP's request, Mr. Weir continued to employ Thu Tran as they believed her termination could interfere with the ongoing investigation and had the potential of hindering a much larger investigation. Mr. Weir complied with the RCMP's wishes and did not end Tran's employment until April 2012 when the RCMP informed him that the investigation was complete.
Mr Weir said he was proud that he and his team were able to help the police during the investigation, but is disappointed that one of his independent contractors allegedly used the good name of Sutton Group Preferred Realty for illegal activities.
“I want to emphasize that any funds related to Thu Tran's transactions have been donated to Neighbourhood Watch London as well as Crime Stoppers London,” he added.
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