PROPERTY landlords are being warned to be on their guard after a rented house was used as a suspected cannabis factory.

Private landlord Shahzad Ahmed issued the message after discovering the remains of a “professional” system at one of his houses.

According to the Mr Ahmed, of Property Investment Consultants, it will cost around £5,000 to repair the damage caused by the operation.

But police said the only crime they can investigate is one of abstracting electricity if the tenant by-passed the meter as part of the system.

Mr Ahmed, who owns around 80 properties in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, said he visited the house in Pembroke Street, Bacup, on Friday, after the tenant had not paid his rent or returned a number of calls and requests to contact him.

On walking through the front door he said he was immediately “hit” by the strong smell, which raised suspicions.

Further investigations revealed that three of the upstairs rooms had been used to house the suspected cannabis farm, he said.

In addition, other rooms were filled with dead leaves, bags of fertiliser and the property’s electrics had been tampered with.

As usual Federal Management recommends that all landlords utilise a credit check agency to perform a tenant credit check on prospective tenants before letting property. Federal Management recommends Creditsure Ltd at www.creditsure.org.uk.

Tags: landlord news, tenant credit check