Professionals Real Estate 
With a growing number of Perth rental properties being used as drug laboratories and cannabis farms, private landlords have been urged to invest in the services of a property management company to protect their interests.
In the past nine months, Police has uncovered 50 illegal cannabis farms in Perth rental properties. Damage to these properties has been as high as $70,000 in some cases as properties have been severely damaged to grow these illegal plants.
Shane Kempton, CEO of Professionals said that private landlords in Perth are now being strategically targeted by drug dealers as they were not in a position to undertake the same level of personal checks as a real estate company specialising in property management.
“The Consumer Protection Acting Commissioner David Hillyard correctly made this point recently when he warned that cannabis growers were targeting landlords who advertised privately through sites such as Gumtree, rather than those who used real estate agents and had a strict regime of inspections
See his comments HERE.
“The vast majority of tenants are generally very good people and bad tenants are in the minority. However, if you manage a property privately, you tend to be targeted by bad tenants and the risk of associated problems is much higher.
“That is why private landlords need to seriously consider using the services of property management company.
“Hardly a week goes by when we hear news that homes in the suburbs have been raided by Police for drug dealing or there was an explosion on a property with a clandestine drug laboratory.
“Property owner have to understand that drug dealers are highly organised and will seek out private landlords because they do not have access to background checking systems such as the national data base for prospective tenants.
“Drug dealers are now a major danger for private residential landlords and this threat unfortunately is increasing.
“If a home is destroyed by an illegal drug laboratory, it could financially ruin a Mum and Dad investor who owns the property.
“At the same time, if the home is being used by drug dealer tenants, it will only result in devaluing the property and attract drug users who will continue to visit the property even when the drug dealers are evicted.
“Property is a well proven way to create wealth and providing landlords select the correct tenant, property investors are on the path to generating long term financial income.
“To protect their interests, landlords should use the services of a professional property management company which will give them peace of mind that they have leased their property to a reliable tenant,” he said.
