All Forum Posts by: Bill Coleman

Water heater with a pilot light igniter that needs replacing. Anyone have a good cheap and responsive appliance repair person?

As an ironic aside to this whole thread, as I have been doing my rehab, a neighbor has been building a fairly substantial structure in her backyard. Probably a 1500 sq ft "shed" with a clear plexiglass roof. Then yesterday I was at the property and either they are growing weed or they are breeding skunks! Classic. 

Regarding insurance, I just got off the phone with my ins co and here is what they said:

They would cover a total loss if the following is true:

1. Any modifications to the house that may have caused or contributed to the loss were either done so without my knowledge or performed by a licensed contractor/service provider with proper permits.

2. Illegal activity was going on without landlord knowledge. I used an example of an illegal meth lab blowing up the house. 

So in my case, renting to a pot grower is no different than renting to someone who grows ferns indoors and burns the house down. Both are legal. Both would be done either with sanctioned and professional modifications to the structure or not at all.

The grey area happens when a grower adds lots of plants and ends up in a grey area of legality. I think as the landlord, I have to be extra cautious in making sure the activities are being presented to me as legal. Whether they are legal or not is another story - I just need documents from the tenant proving to me that it is legal. Maybe check up every 6 months on it.

@Account Closed Good point. I am not sure. I know the rules in my area of Westminster say that you can't have more than 1 client in your space at a time and you can't be over 300 sq ft of your home but it might be different for agricultural activities. I will have to put the burden of proof on the prospective tenant.

@Wilson Churchill  The fact remains that many people in CO grow without the consent of the landlord and try to hide it. I've talked to many other landlords here and open use and growing of MJ is not uncommon. I would rather rent to someone who is open and honest about their intentions rather than hiding it and finding out after the fact. 

@Bradley Bogdan Thank you. good advice

Growing here for personal consumption and distribution as a caregiver is legal within the state and the rules are so complicated and ever-changing that not even the government here can keep up with the rule changes. I have zero concern about the feds as Pres Obama has stated publicly that they are going to leave CO alone on this issue. The guys I am talking with have permits and licenses to run a legit business. They have professional jobs with companies that are globally recognized and you probably have one of their products in your pocket right now. These guys are upstanding, clean and come from money. I have no doubts that they will run a clean and legit operation. 

I thank everyone for your great comments. As a summary, it looks like i can boil it down to the following:

1. make sure the growers have proper credentials

2. modify lease to insulate from problems and restrict the level of activities

3. check with insurance to make sure they will cover the house in the event of a loss; consider additional insurance to cover growing operation and pass that cost on to the tenants

4. obtain a higher security deposit to cover possible mold and water damage

5. Learn about processing intentions and limit operations to growing

6. require certain necessary upgrades to ventilation and electrical at the expense of the renter

I will let you all know what happens and how it unfolds as far as insurance, etc.

@Bob E.  Growing pot is not illegal in Colorado. People who have an eye on the regulatory system and who know how to navigate can LEGALLY grow a hundred plants in their own homes. It's something that we see over and over here in CO. It's a pot culture here. I've only lived here a little over a year and it's been a very eye opening experience as to how normal it is. It's almost as normal as drinking a beer.

Also, my rent for this place is already about 25% above highest market rent in the area so I'm not sure how much more I could squeeze out. Security deposit increase is a no brainer. 

@David P.  The interesting thing about CO right now is that the laws are constantly changing. Literally today they changed legislation on caregivers ability to grow on a larger scale. If you simply go with what you find on the internet, then you will be misinformed. There are so many nuances to the law that you need a really expensive lawyer to interpret and advise. 6 plants per person seems like a straight forward rule but when it comes to caregivers, all of that changes. 

@Danae Meurer  thank you for weighing in as what you are saying is so true. I used to have many drunks as tenants in Delaware (dela-where?) and they destroyed the place and didn't pay rent. I value your input greatly as someone who has rented to a grower in the past.

Great discussion everyone. I have a call in to my insurance company about whether they would cover a fire loss in the event of a legal or illegal growing operation. 

@John D.  You can tell pretty quickly if someone knows what they are doing. Once you start asking them questions about their operation, they are usually pretty proud of what they have built and tell you more detail than you need to know. 

Ventilation will likely be an issue. Smell may not. The previous owners of the house I rehabbed ran a pretty big grow operation and the place didn't smell at all. However, they did create some mold which turned out to be temporary and easily removed. 

As far as the feds go, they are pretty much leaving CO alone unless they see illegal ties to Central or South America or Mexico. We just had a bust here with weed that they were growing here in CO legally, shipping to Chicago for sale and then sending the proceeds down south across the border.

Another thing that popped into my head is that of insurance: if the tenant burns down the house and it's clearly a result of growing pot, will the insurance company deny the claim?