Landlords throughout Sussex are being urged to keep a lookout for tenants cultivating drugs in their homes after a number of similar discoveries have been made. Police in the county have already uncovered 44 commercial growing rackets inside privately rented properties this year, a figure that already surpasses the total of 40 that was found during the whole of 2011.
Almost all involved cannabis, but a couple of others saw criminals produce drugs such as ecstasy and crack cocaine. The increase has seen Sussex Police produce a downloadable leaflet called Keeping Illegal Drugs Out Of Rental Properties. All landlords will be contacted and urged to get a copy of the leaflet that shows how the production of illegal substances is a worrying problem across the county.
Detective Chief Inspector Ali Eaton said: “We have seen a noticeable increase in local cannabis cultivation in particular, with growers no longer using industrial premises; instead they are using private properties in an effort to avoid detection. We are working with property managers and private landlords to tackle this illegal activity and to disrupt organised crime groups, who are often behind these crimes and who are often involved in other crime as well.”
The NLA (National Landlords Association) have welcomed the campaign to tackle what is an on-going problem for property owners. Despite landlords and letting agents carrying out all the necessary checks, the NLA are regularly hearing of cases where a landlord has had to make a claim on their landlord insurance policy after their premises were used for illegal purposes. To avoid unwittingly taking on criminal tenants, landlords are advised to carefully check references and to be aware of ‘front couples’ who vanish without trace once the lease has been signed and they are replaced by gang members.