Rental property owners in Colorado are faced with a dilemma only a few states’ landlords have to deal with: to allow marijuana growing or not. According to local real estate agents, ì420-friendlyî (a pot culture phrase dating back to the 1970s) rentals can mean as much as three-times more monthly income for the landlord. However, the hidden costs of additional risk of damage to the home and relations with the neighborhood could outweigh the profits for owners.Out of seven properties listed on Craigslist for rent in Falcon and Calhan zip codes at press time, only one specifically stated that no marijuana growing was allowed. Falcon area homeowners who list their properties for rent are frequently contacted about whether they will allow medical marijuana growing on their property. Some property owners and managers specify no smoking, but that would not include vaping, edibles and cannabis-infused butters from home-grown plants.A Falcon-area property owner, Debi Herriges, wrote to The New Falcon Herald with examples of responses she received to a Craigslist rental ad. One offered double the asking rate if she would allow medical marijuana to be grown by the renters. Another offered three months advance rent and a multiple-year lease agreement, with a paragraph-long story about the renter, hoping the owner would allow the prospective tenant’s father to not ìget paralyzed because of his sickness.îIn a follow-up phone call, Herriges said people would be ìshockedî at the cleanup she had to deal with when the marijuana growers moved out of what she referred to as ìgood rental homes.îFor example, she said, ìTruck loads of empty water bottles, bags of dirt, as they need to change dirt regularly for good grow crop, and plant seeds and MJ embedded in the rugs and stained walls.†(It) cost us thousands for cleanup and months of lost revenue. These people are good as their applications, as they all pan out as acceptable.†But (we) find out later the references are all in on the scam, too, for partial profit.î†Property owners who decide to accept the additional money or don’t specify whether marijuana growing or use is allowed in the lease face long legal battles to evict pot-growing tenants. Since marijuana growing of up to 12 plants per property is legal in unincorporated El Paso County, growing or using marijuana in violation of a lease is a civil, not criminal, matter.The Colorado Judicial Branch handles evictions in Colorado. Forcible Entry and Detainer, as evictions are officially known in the state, are an expensive process for property owners and can take a few weeks to complete from serving the initial Notice to Quit or Vacate to being able to have the sheriff’s office remove the tenant, according to the CJB website.Damages to the property by an aggressive pot-growing tenant can be expensive to repair and will not be covered by almost all homeowners or rentersí insurance policies, said Janet McMonigal of Top Peak Insurance in Falcon. If other laws are broken as a result of household-level marijuana grows, such as the tenants growing marijuana for sale without the appropriate licenses, then any damage to the home in the course of a law enforcement raid is not covered either, McMonigal said.ìIf you could rent your house out for $4,000 a month instead of $1,200 a month, it’s hard to turn that down,î said a Colorado Springs real estate agent who asked to remain anonymous. The additional revenue usually covers the cost of clean-up if the tenant skips town, or is arrested in a raid. ìFront doors are cheap in comparison,î the agent said.There is a long-term cost to the home’s property value and the surrounding community if the tenants choose not to be a good neighbor with their marijuana growing operation. Herriges said one property in Woodmen Hills added exhaust ducts above a garage grow room to pump the ventilation air into the neighborhood. Violations of the El Paso County land use code, which now includes allowing the smell of growing marijuana to spread beyond property lines, can be reported by any interested party to the El Paso County Development Services Department at 719-520-6300 or the El Paso County Sheriff non-emergency dispatch phone number at 719-390-5555.
