Rental property full of THC badly needs some TLC

An ex-rental property sparked shock and mirth on social media after photos emerged of its interior wrecked by a drug-growing tenant.

Evidently abandoned in haste, the two-bedroom terraced house in Engineer Street, Wigan, is being marketed by Purplebricks on the Rightmove website for £80,000 as a “great investment in need of full modernisation throughout”.

It adds that viewing is advised – but perhaps after someone has done a bit of a clean-up job. One prospective buyer who posted the candid interior photos on Twitter remarked drolly: “Bargain house to buy, needs some TLC to become a great family home.”

Domestic premises

The property is far from an isolated case as 94% of cannabis farms are set up in domestic premises and police uncover about 25 of them every day across the country.

It’s a problem only made worse by the pandemic while lockdown restrictions were in place when the chances of being caught – through being spotted by visitors or passers-by – would have been reduced.

Aviva has reported a 30% year-on-year increase for cannabis farm-related insurance claims while Direct Line’s most recent research reveals that the average insurance claim for repairing a landlord’s property damaged by cannabis cultivation stood at £9,471 in 2020.

Energy theft

The police force with the highest number of investigations into energy theft for the use of drug cultivation in 2020 was West Yorkshire Police, which reported 211 cases. It reports that evidence shows that most cannabis farms in the region are properties that have been rented by single men (86%) compared to women (14%) The most common age group was 30-39 (36%), followed by 20-29 (28%).

The force advises landlords to include a clause in their tenancy agreement to inspect the property once every eight to ten weeks as this would not allow time to grow a cannabis crop.