“They dumped a truckload of dirt in my bedroom”: He rented out his house and the tenants used it for something unthinkable
“I turned on the lights and, oh my God, three feet of dirt in my bedroom,” says Charles Reeves, still in disbelief, as he shows his house to the BBC. “I’m amazed the floor has held up to all this.”
Reeves, a homeowner in north London, returned from working abroad to find his rented family home turned into a cannabis grow.
Criminals, posing as tenants, had dumped 10 tonnes of soil on the property. The sophisticated operation caused extensive damage to the house and left the family devastated.
According to experts, such crimes are on the rise, and criminals appear to be taking advantage of lengthy eviction processes to carry out illegal cannabis cultivation operations before disappearing.
The Reeves family advertised their property for rent online when they were preparing to go abroad. They were contacted by an estate agent who found out they would be away for a long period. He promised them a family of tenants, supposedly employees of a company in London's financial district with children.
However, the “tenants” turned out to be scammers who never paid rent and used the property for criminal activities. It was later discovered that the real estate agent was running a fake site and that the tenants were fictitious.
Police told Reeves it was one of the worst cases of this type of crime they had seen. More than 400 cannabis plants were seized from the property, with an estimated value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Reeves went to the property after managing to obtain a court order to enter his own home, as he had not been paid rent. He knocked on the door and was answered by several men, one of whom stated that the property was in good condition. Within half an hour, the men had disappeared. It is not known what role they played in the grow-out.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Reeves said, describing the moment he entered the house. “The cannabis offenders dumped 10 tons of dirt in the master bedroom.”
“The whole place had been transformed into a drug factory. There were holes in the ceiling, cables everywhere and the smell was unbearable.”
The emotional impact on the family, both from the rental scam and the damage to their home, has been immense. Charles’ wife Julia said: “When it comes to a property, especially a house that you’ve lived in for almost 20 years and raised your son in… it’s pretty horrible to feel like you’re attacked in the very core, in that inner sanctum, that place of comfort that we could rely on in the city, it’s our home, it’s very painful.”
For Charles, “emotionally, it feels like my house has been desecrated, that’s what I feel. The damage, the filth everywhere. This is the first real home I’ve ever had, we’re devastated and heartbroken.”
Metropolitan Police figures show that more than 1,000 cannabis grows were discovered in London between 2018 and 2023. However, experts believe this figure is only a small proportion of the grows currently in operation.
According to Allen Morgan, one of the UK’s leading experts on drug prosecutions and a former police officer, house rentals linked to cannabis cultivation are on the rise. “We are seeing a clear increase in this type of crime, with criminals taking advantage of the rental market to set up illegal growing operations,” he says.
“They take advantage of the legal system and the eviction process. They know it can take months to remove a tenant, even if they stop paying rent. During this time, they can complete multiple grows and make a significant profit before disappearing, without a trace.”
The lack of regulation regarding property rentals has made it easier for scammers to operate. Estate agents are not required to be qualified, even though they manage significant assets. This can make property owners vulnerable to scams and other criminal activity.
“If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Morgan warns. “If someone shows up offering to pay cash and needs to move immediately, alarm bells should start ringing.”
The cannabis trade has evolved from small-scale cultivation to sophisticated multi-million-dollar operations, allegedly run by international criminal groups. London, with its vast local market and extensive transport network, has become a hub for drug distribution.
“The problem with London is obviously that it is one of the main distribution centres for drugs in the whole of the UK ,” Morgan explains.
“When you turn a rented house into a grow facility , you have five, six, maybe seven separate growing areas where you can produce cannabis plants, obviously discreetly and without any kind of evidentiary link.”
Police said what happened to the Reeves family was still being investigated, but the reality was that innocent property owners were being left to pick up the slack for London's growing drug crime problem.
The Reeves hope that by sharing their story, they can raise awareness of this growing problem and prevent other homeowners from falling victim to similar scams.
“We want people to be aware of the risks and take every precaution possible when renting out their properties,” Reeves said, adding: “No one should have to go through what we experienced. It wasn’t just fraud, it was the destruction of our home.”
By Guy Lynn and Stephen Menon
original news
lanacion
