BURSTTwo clandestine drug labs dismantled last month in the Fraser Valley has led to a call for a standardized province-wide policy for remediating former drug houses by the B.C. Real Estate Association.
The large-scale lab busted in Chilliwack saw RCMP officers seize 40 kilograms of fentanyl from a rural outbuilding on May 1, while an earlier raid saw 25 kg of MDMA (ecstasy) removed from lab and pill production dismantled in Abbotsford on April 29.
“Once a home has been used for illicit drug production, owners often face significant challenges completing remediation and restoring the property for safe occupancy,” said Trevor Hargreaves, BCREA vice-president, in a June 1 release. “What’s more, the homes themselves become stigmatized.”
The upshot of that stigmatization is that some banks are hesitant to offer financing and mortgage insurers reluctant to provide coverage with these properties, which makes the prospect of home purchase “a challenge” for many buyers.
“There needs to be a standardized process that outlines steps from identification through to full repair and remediation,” Hargreaves said.
The recent news about the Abbotsford and Chilliwack drug lab busts highlighted key “differences in remediation standards,” for the association, with each city requiring its own cleaning and disinfection benchmarks, as well as differences in the scope of substances covered under their policies.
Over several months of the co-ordinated investigation, RCMP’s Federal Policing Program – Pacific Region seized chemicals, equipment, processing, packaging materials, almost 250 kg of MDMA, 40 kg of finished fentanyl, $135,000 in cash and eleven firearms.
“In light of this news, the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) is renewing its call for the creation of a provincial drug home remediation policy.”
The BCREA partnered with the University of the Fraser Valley’s Centre for Public Safety and Criminal Justice Research, to review current practices in B.C.
The crux of what they found is that each municipality decides its own policy and framework for remediation of these homes and structures once used in illicit drug production – with no consistency or unified approach.
As a result the BCREA is renewing its call for a “single province-wide multi-step process” to ensure public safety by standardizing identification and repair protocols, similar to one they found was already in place in Alberta.
“This proposed standardization would make lenders and insurers more willing to work with these properties, helping homeowners to list them for sale and buyers to secure necessary financing and insurance.”