Reclassification of Cannabis/Traders set to 'home' in on residential areas. But what signs are you going to look for? A report from a once sleepy village in South Yorkshire.

Crud examines the inevitable growth in cannabis shop fronts and what the 'buy to let' boom has in store for all homeowners. Coming to a neighbourhood near you. Be warned.

11/07/2002

Who’d have thought he reclassification of cannabis as a Class C drug and the booming ‘buy to let’ market could have anything remotely in common?

Well picture this.

You’re living in a quiet, cosy little village hamlet where even the sound of next-door’s cat has become something of a significant, extraneous and unwelcome event. The postman always delivers around 11.30am. A silver car cruises neatly into its driveway everyday at around 1.00pm. Next door’s kids get picked at 3.30 from school. A man you’ve never met but seen at exactly the same time every weekday evening walks by on his way home from work. He could be a librarian; a social worker. You may never know. And at round about 11.00pm every evening all the lights in the houses one by one begin to dim, bringing to a close another day.

Then one day something surprising happens.

Within the space of a week of a ‘To Let sign’ appearing on the grass verge of the house across the way, and possibly quite unbeknown to the homeowners themselves, a neighbourhood is transformed from a quiet and respectable safe haven into a murky, aspiring ghetto.

Swarms of youths appear suddenly within the area, all furrowing a seemingly organized path to the door of the property in question. As one group of youths go, another appears. Not once, not twice, but at intervals throughout the evening. Elderly residents are abused verbally, and on one occasion a youth is discovered wandering aimlessly up a neighbour’s garden rockery. No adult ever seems present upon the property – not one who cares to be witnessed here at least. A red-car, however, packed to the rafters with several youths of varying description is seen checking in to property occasionally. A group gets taken out in the morning. A group gets brought back at night. The adult enters briefly, and then just as briefly leaves.

This goes on for 6 months and then as suddenly as it started, it stops.

Within the time that it takes to say ‘6 months short-term tenancy agreement’ all that remains are some Rizla packets and a desktop full of tobacco. That and a dozen or so new regular cannabis users.

To many, this may sound a little remote. But the residents of one quiet street in Tickhill, near Doncaster in the UK found it all too tangibly close to home.

Some may call this paranoia; others might call it a timely warning.

Crud spoke to one resident about the alleged events going on in his street.

“It’s weird,” said the resident, “for two years we’ve seen barely one youth walking around on the street and within a week it’s become like a ruddy youth club round here. Some of the old people are getting abused, the kids are generally making a nuisance of themselves; going on peoples’ property, playing loud music, hanging around getting drunk.”

Was this anything to do with the recently letted property?

“Well it would certainly seem that way. The house just seems to be being used by kids, and strangely enough, it all seems pretty well organized. One group will come; another will go, then another and another. We’ve not seen any parents as such, and these kids only seem to be around fifteen or sixteen. Just very occasionally you see an adult drive up to the house, they go in, and within half an hour, they’re off again. It’s bonkers. It’s like Lord of The bloody Flies in there”.

When a Crud representative first contacted the letting agents, Countrywide Residential Lettings regarding the alleged activities on the property and whether or not any action could be taken, the agents declined to comment. A resident who later contacted the agency was told by Branch Manager, Kate Pope that the property was being let to an 'adult male' who worked away much of the time but that the young girl was 'definitely just over 18' . Maybe it's too early to alert the vice squad but it’s difficult to quell such speculation, even if on this occasion that speculation may be wide of the mark.

Another resident had a less dramatic, but no less worrying hypothesis:

"Yeah there is a car that drives up occasionally. My wife seems pretty sure it's one of the girls' mothers. Seems they have a pretty large family of kids. I think the guys who rents it is the girls' brother as he occasionally comes round in the same car that the mother uses. This might explain why there's so many young boys round at the property. I imagine the mother uses the property to ease the burden of having so many kids at home. She probably got the eldest brother to say he's living there with his girlfriend or something, and then drops off a car load of the girls to take turns living there. You hear about people fudging benefits, but who knows? We've contacted Countrywide Lettings but they insist there is an adult male down on the contract - and we don't doubt there is. But there's no adult male lives at the property - only a bunch of teenage girls. The owners are in Australia. Can't imagine they'd be pleased. They pulled the soilage pipe away from the property recently. We heard them laughing about it. It was down for weeks. It reeked."

But again: no comment from Countrywide RL on such speculation. This indeed could be just youthful exhuberance; but who's to know on such occasions?

But why should Countrywide Residential Lettings care to comment on this property? It’s not their home, and they may not even be contractually obliged to help maintain or inspect the property. But this is what the homeowner is letting him or herself into when it comes to letting their home. This is not about Countrywide Residential Lettings. It could be any letting agent. If neither you nor your agent are looking after the property, who knows what could be going on inside:

“It’s been a booming market for ‘buy to let’ agents”, suggested one industry expert. “The shift away from ‘estate agents’ to ‘Letting Agents’ has been immense in the last 12 months. It’s cooling now, but it’s still significant. The sheer volume of people looking to rent over and above buying has overwhelmed some agents. This means there’s are holes through which certain undesirables can jump. Properties can be taken on for brief periods of times, used for whatever means, whatever gains and then vacated. Often there will be no legitimate traces of the tenants to use in an investigation. “

But was there a problem with drugs and 'letting' generally?

“ Well, it’s not uncommon for short-term rented accommodation being used for any kind of illegal pursuit. But this is the same for any agent. The problem for homeowners is that there are too many letting-agents out there who carry out very inadequate credit and reference checks. What this means is that a gang may rent a property to specifically sell drugs and then suddenly disappear. And we’re not just talking about ghetto areas. It’s becoming more common for dealers to target quiet, affluent areas, where there is no shortage of youngsters with money.”

Significantly more than 60% of mortgage lenders now offer buy-to-let products compared with 30% in 1998. The solution for dealers has been made easy. Buy it up, rent it out – move on.

The reclassification of cannabis as a Class C drug only takes on greater significance when you realize that the inevitable surge in casual users that is set to saw in the next 12 months means the dealers are going to meet the explosive demand by setting up more ‘shop fronts’. After all, you’re not going to be able to grab an ounce of weed from your local mini-mart just yet.

And this is where Mr. Blunkett has been a trifle nearsighted. Yes, the reclassification of cannabis as a Class C drug will allow the Police to monitor more hardened dealers, but it will also lead to an explosion in cannabis users: and an explosion in cannabis users means a boom for the industry generals: the dealers. Which means then quite simply, that we are likely to see an inevitable growth in dealers. And to cope with the demand, they’re going to need more shop-fronts from which to deal. And what better shop-front than that provided by the ‘short-term letting agreement’?

Dope peddlers? Escort agencies? What does this mean for the homeowner? It means you’ll have to be on the look out. In agreement with your letting agent, take time out to verify all references thoroughly and to carry out fail-safe credit checks.

Failing that: check out those discarded Rizlas at a property near you and the last light of the street that dims.

Bob likes his odd spliff as much as the next man. But where will it all end?

Pimply Skateboard Bob for Crud Magazine© 2002

I Wouldn't Say Doncaster Had a Youth Problem But....

5 Headlines from one single edition of a Doncaster Newspaper:

1. Teen Bikers Crackdown - Nuisance bikers make life hell for residents of a Doncaster estate.
2. Police Support Law Changes Over Drugs - Well it's a bit like saying school children support teacher strikes, isn't it?
3. Mum Found Son Dead - Worried Mum breaks into her son's Doncaster flat to find him dead on the settee. Various signs of drug abuse found at the scene.
4. Addict Died From Overdose - Drug addict collapses and dies outside his Doncaster home.
5. Boozy Youths Spark Outcry - Fed up residents in a South Yorkshire community call for ban on nuisance drinkers in street. Gangs of youths to blame.

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