Last Wednesday I was in Jefferson City addressing a meeting of the Missouri Housing Industry Alliance. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that having lived in Missouri for over 10 years now, this was my first trip to our state capitol.
I was invited to introduce the group to DrugWipe technology and talk about the issues of drugs in real estate. It was a great group and the presentation evolved into a lively discussion about DrugWipe, drug use/production in homes and apartments, and liabilities (gotta love the lawyers!).
When I first learned of DrugWipe, one of the first applications I thought of was for real estate. My family has always owned investment properties and I can remember going to visit building with my dad when I was younger and seeing crack pipes littering the sidewalks and alleys outside some buildings. And now living in Missouri, the Meth Lab capital of the United States, I’m acutely aware of the problems that drugs can pose to home owners, landlords, and tenants.
GOT METH?
Most people don’t realize how toxic this stuff really is. The production of Meth creates a blizzard of toxic material that spreads into walls, carpeting, HVAC systems and more. The residue contaminates these surfaces for a long time and is very difficult to remove. Some buildings that have housed Meth labs are demolished because it would be too difficult and costly to clean up.
A story out of Texas really made the dangers of this stuff hit home with me. It’s about a DEA agent that was involved in raiding a meth lab. During the course of a day, his clothing got contaminated from being in the house that was raided. After work, he went home and played with his 6 week old child before changing his clothes and the child died from exposure to the toxic residue.
I’ve run into a lot of people over the past year who are quite concerned about Meth lab contamination. I remember talking to a police officer from Franklin County, Missouri that built a new home for his young family rather than buy an existing home because of fears over Meth contamination. I’ve talked to people in the medical profession who’ve had patients with “mystery illnesses” that turn out to be caused by exposure to Meth contamination in the home or apartment they recently moved into.
DrugWipe could be a great tool to help people quickly determine if that house or apartment they are looking at may be contaminated from a previous Meth lab. In fact, we’re talking to home inspectors about offering this service. They offer testing for things like radon and mold that people are concerned about – why not Meth?
The main reason why not is concern over liabilities. If you know there’s a problem then you have to do something about it. In St. Louis now there’s a line on the Seller’s Disclosure statement dealing with Meth labs. You have to check a box certifying that the production of methamphetamines has never occurred in the property. If a realtor or property owner is in the dark about whether meth production previously took place in a property or not, they don’t have to disclose anything. I can fully understand the “ignorance is bliss” argument. Not knowing provides a level of safety in some perverse way. Or does it?
Check out this recent story out of Utah. Remember the Osmonds? No, not the Osbornes, the other musical family, the Osmonds - Donny and Marie. Their family owns a real estate company in Utah. Recently a young couple bought a house through the Osmond’s real estate company. It turns out the house used to house a Meth Lab. The couple suffered a wide range of ailments due to the lingering contamination and has had to move out of the house. They also had to throw out all their clothes and many of their personal effects (a piano, an heirloom rug, etc.) because they were all contaminated from the Meth residue. They are now suing the Osmond’s real estate company for $200,000. They want to negate the contract and get their money back for the house and their personal property.
Do they deserve it? Should the realtor be held liable whether they knew about the Meth lab or not? Should realtors be required to do more homework on a property to uncover past problems like a Meth lab before listing it? Who else could be held liable? The Seller? A home inspector?
If this couple wins, the reverberations will echo throughout the real estate community. It will eliminate the “ignorance is bliss” argument because a realtor could now be sued for not knowing. It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds.
Meth is just one issue that those in real estate face when it comes to drugs. I’ll discuss some of the others in the coming days.
I was invited to introduce the group to DrugWipe technology and talk about the issues of drugs in real estate. It was a great group and the presentation evolved into a lively discussion about DrugWipe, drug use/production in homes and apartments, and liabilities (gotta love the lawyers!).
When I first learned of DrugWipe, one of the first applications I thought of was for real estate. My family has always owned investment properties and I can remember going to visit building with my dad when I was younger and seeing crack pipes littering the sidewalks and alleys outside some buildings. And now living in Missouri, the Meth Lab capital of the United States, I’m acutely aware of the problems that drugs can pose to home owners, landlords, and tenants.
GOT METH?
Most people don’t realize how toxic this stuff really is. The production of Meth creates a blizzard of toxic material that spreads into walls, carpeting, HVAC systems and more. The residue contaminates these surfaces for a long time and is very difficult to remove. Some buildings that have housed Meth labs are demolished because it would be too difficult and costly to clean up.
A story out of Texas really made the dangers of this stuff hit home with me. It’s about a DEA agent that was involved in raiding a meth lab. During the course of a day, his clothing got contaminated from being in the house that was raided. After work, he went home and played with his 6 week old child before changing his clothes and the child died from exposure to the toxic residue.
I’ve run into a lot of people over the past year who are quite concerned about Meth lab contamination. I remember talking to a police officer from Franklin County, Missouri that built a new home for his young family rather than buy an existing home because of fears over Meth contamination. I’ve talked to people in the medical profession who’ve had patients with “mystery illnesses” that turn out to be caused by exposure to Meth contamination in the home or apartment they recently moved into.
DrugWipe could be a great tool to help people quickly determine if that house or apartment they are looking at may be contaminated from a previous Meth lab. In fact, we’re talking to home inspectors about offering this service. They offer testing for things like radon and mold that people are concerned about – why not Meth?
The main reason why not is concern over liabilities. If you know there’s a problem then you have to do something about it. In St. Louis now there’s a line on the Seller’s Disclosure statement dealing with Meth labs. You have to check a box certifying that the production of methamphetamines has never occurred in the property. If a realtor or property owner is in the dark about whether meth production previously took place in a property or not, they don’t have to disclose anything. I can fully understand the “ignorance is bliss” argument. Not knowing provides a level of safety in some perverse way. Or does it?
Check out this recent story out of Utah. Remember the Osmonds? No, not the Osbornes, the other musical family, the Osmonds - Donny and Marie. Their family owns a real estate company in Utah. Recently a young couple bought a house through the Osmond’s real estate company. It turns out the house used to house a Meth Lab. The couple suffered a wide range of ailments due to the lingering contamination and has had to move out of the house. They also had to throw out all their clothes and many of their personal effects (a piano, an heirloom rug, etc.) because they were all contaminated from the Meth residue. They are now suing the Osmond’s real estate company for $200,000. They want to negate the contract and get their money back for the house and their personal property.
Do they deserve it? Should the realtor be held liable whether they knew about the Meth lab or not? Should realtors be required to do more homework on a property to uncover past problems like a Meth lab before listing it? Who else could be held liable? The Seller? A home inspector?
If this couple wins, the reverberations will echo throughout the real estate community. It will eliminate the “ignorance is bliss” argument because a realtor could now be sued for not knowing. It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds.
Meth is just one issue that those in real estate face when it comes to drugs. I’ll discuss some of the others in the coming days.
1 comment:
As a Certified Home Inspector and president of the Idaho Chapter, National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, I found this article fascinating, and would like to know the outcome of the story!
Russ,
www.cdaInspector.com
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