Finding A Great Real Estate Agent

Posted on: 26 October 2016

If you're selling a house in an area where medical marijuana or recreational marijuana is legal, how do you handle the issue of having used an area of your house as a "grow room" with potential buyers? As the laws surrounding cannabis growth and use change, more and more sellers and buyers are going to be faced with this problem down the line. What do you have to disclose? What are the potential pitfalls? How can you work around them? Use this as a guide.

Do you have a duty to disclose the fact that marijuana was grown on the property?

There is nothing written down that says that you have to disclose the fact that you were growing plants for home consumption—legally, there's no difference than if you had a room full of orchids or spider plants. Ethically, however, you may want to disclose the issue if there are problems with the property as a result of your marijuana growth. By not disclosing the full nature of the situation, you may be opening yourself up to a problem down the line if the buyers charge you with misleading them and not giving full disclosure.

Keep in mind that disclosure sheets vary from state to state, but the idea behind them all is to give the buyer a fair shot at deciding not to buy a property for some reason. 

Is there any damage from the grow operation?

Each state has its own laws on how many live plants are allowed per adult. For example, Colorado allows up to six plants for every adult in the household over age 21 (although some municipalities restrict that further). While that might not sound like much, twelve full-grown plants can be quite a large operation and can leave the house with some long-lasting problems.

For example, if you made alterations to the ductwork and ceilings of a room to accommodate the adult plants, did you do so with the proper permits and keep everything up to code? If the house was rewired in order to accommodate the voltage needed for the grow lights, did you have an actual electrician do the job? 

Another issue that's common to homes that have been used to grow marijuana is mold. The plants require a lot of humidity and moisture in order to grow well, which means that it can be very hard to keep mold from spreading through the ductwork and getting behind the wallboard of rooms that were kept warm for the plants.

Can you turn a potential negative into a positive?

You may be able to turn a potential negative into a positive by taking a few proactive steps after you remove the plants and get the house ready for showing. Consider having a home inspection done that assesses the house for any common problems associated with grow rooms:

• illegal ductwork
• unsafe wiring or wiring that isn't up to code
• mold, rot, or rust on the walls and fixtures inside the home

Make any necessary repairs or be willing to lower the price so that the buyer can make the necessary repairs. Also, have the home's ductwork professionally cleaned to remove mold and marijuana residue from the ducts. Invest in professional cleaners who can make sure that there's no trace of the marijuana smell left in the home at all before you show it. 

If everything is done according to code and you created a grow room that is actually quite lovely and well set-up, you may be able to simply use the room as a selling point. While that might limit the number of buyers who are interested, it could be a potential selling point for someone who is new to the state and wants to take advantage of the laws but doesn't know where to start.

For more information, talk with yourreal estate agent in advance in order to discuss the situation.