Dope! Letting agent reports tenant over fruity ‘cannabis farm’
Junior member of staff requires a little re-training after spotting what they thought were marijuana plants and growing equipment in long-term rented property.
One of Scotland’s leading letting agencies has revealed how one of its staff mistakenly accused a long-term tenant of growing cannabis at one of its properties.
The dope story began when a junior member of the team at Edinburgh letting agency The Key People went to do an inspection of a property in the quiet town of Penicuik, just outside the city.
They spotted what they thought was a large collection of cannabis plants in one of the bedrooms being warmed by a collection of specialist lights.
“The staff member arrived back at the office looking somewhat stunned, to say that the tenants were growing cannabis plants in the bedroom,” says the company’s Chief Executive Robert Young (left).
“In recent times we have been made increasingly aware of the problems of cannabis farms in rented properties. Staff have been briefed to be being vigilant.”
Robert and his member of staff returned to the property to confront the tenants about the alleged cannabis plants, only for the pair to be shown that the pots were in fact full of much more benign greenery.
“Amidst much laughter, they explained that it was not a cannabis farm but the mother’s tomatoes, which they were looking after while she was on holiday,” says Robert.
“They invited me in to have a look and sure enough I was able to confirm that those were indeed tomato plants. This was a good learning curve for The Key Place staff member as we were able to educate her in how to tell a cannabis plant from a tomato plant in the real world! And on the plus side, I was delighted with her vigilance.”
Cannabis growing in rented properties is a serious problem in the UK and only a week ago police in the West of Scotland raided a property to find 2,300 cannabis plants being grown inside worth £1.4 million.
