LOSING YOUR HOUSE – THE EASY WAY

You can lose your house (and your credit rating) the long, slow, painful way – through foreclosure … or you can lose it the easy way – by renting it to the wrong tenant, someone who uses it for a marijuana grow-op.  That’s what happened to a certain Mr. Rai not so long ago.  In considering Mr. Rai’s plight, keep in mind that he was never charged with a criminal offence.  It was not suggested that he participated in the illegal activity – merely that, as the landlord, he profited from it.

“But I didn’t know the tenant was using it for a grow-op,” said Mr. Rai.  His claim of innocence highlights an aspect of the law which eludes many people.  The law makes a distinction between being truly innocent – really unaware of the truth – and being “wilfully blind” – deliberately refusing to look for the truth in the face of suspicious circumstances.  In Mr. Rai’s case, he had his suspicions about how his property was being used but he didn’t investigate because, in the judge’s words, “he wanted to be able to deny knowledge.”  The judge went on to say “if there was ever wilful blindness …, this was it.”

You might wonder about the legal basis behind the seizure of Mr. Rai’s property.  In British Columbia, we have a law known as the Civil Forfeiture Act.  This law allows the government to seize property used for unlawful activity or property which constitutes the proceeds of crime.  Under this legislation, the property was considered to be “an instrument of unlawful activity” and even the rent paid to Mr. Rai was considered to be the proceeds of crime.  Mr. Rai wouldn’t have lost his property – if he had been able to show that he didn’t know and could not reasonably have known about the illegal activity.  Unfortunately for him, his “wilful blindness” meant that he couldn’t save his property.

Article written by Centennial Law Corp. (Douglas E. Dent)