Growing cannabis at home could hurt your property value says real estate report

One overlooked aspect of Canada’s impending cannabis legalization is homeowners suddenly being allowed to grow cannabis in their own homes.

If passed, Bill C-45 will allow adults to grow up to four marijuana plants, but the decision to grow in your home could be at risk of a home’s property value, says a recent survey by Canadian real estate company Zoocasa.

The survey found that 47% of Canadian respondents believe that growing pot in a home will decrease the value of the property.

Today, Federation of Canadian Municipalities released a guide to legalization that highlighted home grow-ops as a potentially big problem for municipalities.

"It has meant a significantly compromised housing stock, heavy demands on policing resources, local nuisance complaints and erosion of the culture of compliance on which the effectiveness of local bylaws largely depends," the guide says.

According to the guide, the federal government has failed to enforce limits on allowable plants for those licensed to grow by Health Canada.

"Municipalities may be skeptical about whether or not people will comply with the four-plant limit (for recreational cannabis) and if the federal government will enforce the rule," states the guide.

Quebec and Manitoba have chosen to prohibit home cultivation altogether, despite the four-plant limit allowed under the proposed federal law.

Landlord BC is advocating the provincial government to introduce legislation that would outlaw the growing and smoking of marijuana in rental housing, which would be the first such law in Canada.

“Residents can’t be asked to live in a 50 unit apartment building where the majority of residents are growing cannabis. The odor, the humidity, the electricity, there are a number reasons that it would be a problem,” said David Hutniak, CEO of LandlordBC.

Mike Bricknell, a mortgage broker at CanWise Financial, says lenders take a very conservative approach with homes where growth has been present.

“So far, any trace of a ‘grow op’, legal or not legal, past or present, is not to be considered approvable by a conventional residential lender,” said Bricknell in a release.

“For the unconventional lenders it takes a lot of paperwork, air and mould testing, and case-by-case exceptions to obtain a mortgage and home insurance approval.”