Police in Sheffield have uncovered a cannabis farm worth an estimated £300,000 in a private rented property.
Officers in Hillsborough revealed on Thursday that they had discovered and seized the drugs den.
Cannabis farms have long been a problematic issue for unsuspecting landlords, with their rental properties occasionally converted to make them suitable for full-scale cannabis production.
These farms typically involve large scale alterations to the property, including removal of walls and changes to the electricity supply – resulting in tens of thousands of pounds of damage to a landlord’s property.
With cannabis farms still a prominent issue, buy-to-let landlords, as well as managing and letting agents, are being urged to be aware of the potential damages to the rented property and how the issue can be avoided.
“You may not be aware but the landlord will receive a hefty bill to reconnect before being able to rent out the property,” the police said. “It’s really worth being careful and vigilant if you rent out. Those landlords that are complicit can expect some focus by this team.”
The Sheffield North West Neighbourhood Policing Team said the latest drugs find took the total value of the cannabis it had recovered to more than £6m.
Nobody has been arrested in connection with the cannabis farm. The investigation is still ongoing.
Comments (8)
This month I listened to the most remarkable/shocking story in quite a while whilst taking on a new management client. There is a well-known large-ish Corporate Estate and Letting Agent in London, which has an image for being ‘prestigious’. They previously managed my new clients, property. During the tenancy the clerk from the agency visited the managed property to do a mid-rental inspection. They took photos and notes and emailed the report to the landlords, commenting, along the lines of, ‘everything ok’. Several weeks passed and the landlord saw the inspection report, opened it and started to read. The report said something along the lines of, ‘all ok’. They then looked at the photographs and noted the following: The windows had been blacked out, there were bags full of cannabis in the rooms, a large hole was cut in the ceiling to access the loft and many other matters not in line with a normal rented property. Our landlord zoomed over to the property to find it was being used as a cannabis factory. Yes really. The client was dismayed that this would of happened when using this, so-called ‘prestigious agent’. Many thousands of pounds were spent in repairs.
The ‘so-called’ professional Estate Agents, had commented that the property was ok.
any ‘ cryptic clues ‘ as to the agent. I hope he sued them. ( Agents )
I ‘completely’ understand a clue would be good. They are a London agent.
This raises all sorts of issues linked to,
1. Landlord did not do proper tenants checks prior to tenancy.
2. Landlord did not do periodic inspections.
Far too many landlords go about renting with a wing and a prayer, or on good faith. Its not difficult, but boy do some make it so with the disastrous consequences.
@WoodenTop – Tell me about it ! Lol 😉
I’m waiting for the condemnation by Tenant support groups of this Criminal behaviour by Tenants !
My theorised response from Shelter:
“The Landlord should have taken the proper steps to ensure that the tenant did not become so mentally and financially vulnerable that they felt the need to pursue illicit activities. We need to introduce legislation to ensure that landlords take better care of their tenants and if a tenant becomes involved in illegal activities the landlords need to be held to account for not providing the proper care a tenant needs!“
A W Are your sure that response was theoretical?