Cannabis Gangs Target Buy to Lets as Drug Factories

So what should we be doing to stop it happening to us?

Surely ALL landlords know that any Vietnamese tenant will most likely be involved in cannabis farming.
Personally if I took one on I would contact the local police and advise they may well have an issue with the property.
I would also make available  keys for them.
A lot of these people try and give 6 months rent in advance which I have learnt from Mary Latham creates a defacto premium tenancy.
Therefore I will never accept such advance monies.
Does anyone remember the police commander who took on a Vietnamese tenant and was eventually found to have a cannabis farm.
Even I knew about Vietnamese criminal gangs.
Embarrassing that this top policeman was not more wordly wise!?
I think advice to tenants that you will attend the property and expect to gain entry and if there is refusal to allow entry after a couple of attempts then a Section 8 will be issued to commence poceedings against the tenants.

Oh come on Paul ..........

Your advice about being wary of taking six months rent up front is perfectly sound and the points you make about creating premium tenancies and the likelihood of such an offer coming from a cannabis grower being greater than from a law abiding citizen are all valid. However, race should not come into this debate. Fair enough, the article cites convictions of Vietnamese people but that should not reflect upon a whole Nation! Cannabis growers come from all Countries. I was also rather shocked at your comment about informing the Police and giving them keys. Surely if you had any idea that somebody who wanted to rent one of your properties was up to no good you would simply tell them they can't rent your property and find somebody you felt would be more trustworthy?

Referencing, guarantors and being on your guard if you you are offered rent up front. For further insight into how I choose my tenants please see the link below.

http://www.property118.com/index.php/how-i-choose-my-tenants/ 

Just watch the Panorama programme abot the Vietnamese criminals.
No racism it is just this lot seem to specialise in this sort of criminal activity.
Are the BBC racist!!!?

The BBC are not immune to racism Paul, just look at the trouble they are in at theoment with India and the Top Gear antics. It never pays to imply a whole Country, Race are Nationality are the same. Good and bad exists everywhere. The associations are strong with some countries, for example, if you surveyed 100 people and asked them to name a country associated with scams I suspect more than half of them would name one particular country. Does that mean that everybody or at least half the population of that country are corrupt? Probably not. Please can we leave race out of our debates. It is in the T's and C's after all.

Well I will be exercising due diligence and of course every landlord has their own take on due diligence concerning tenants.
I will take into account local intelligence and reporting regarding issues with nationality stereotypes.
If this means I don't take such nationalities as tenants then tough.
I also saw the Top Gear programmes .
Nothing racist about it at all.
Nationalities always have always laughed at cultures different from themselve; that is not racist.
Anybody taking the mick out of the Brits I would never consider  to be racist .
We are are all running scared of being PC and I for one disagree with  it .
However your forum; as is your choice may determine the level and con tent of discussion.
I have no issue with that and consequently won't bother commenting on this issue further so avoiding the hassle of you having to moderate.

The cannabis farmers are experienced criminals, they employ a front person (or people) with a brilliant cover story to view and rent the property. They will not smell of cannabis, they will not have have a cauliflower ear and they will not look dodgy in any way, in fact the opposite is more likely to be true, beware the perfect young couple! So race doesn't come into it.

When you think you are vetting them, they will in fact be vetting you!

What they will be looking for is an absent and/or easy going landlord that is not likely to bother them once they are in growing their plants and wrecking your house. Suggest to all prospective tenants that it is standard practice for you to arrange a full internal inspection after the first two months and again before any tenancy renewal. I said SUGGEST, this should be enough to deter any farmers and any real tenants should be OK with this. You don't actually have to carry your internal inspection, but do be suspicious of not being let into the property when you do need to visit.

Always be on the look out for constantly closed curtains (especially during the day), sealed windows and any strange smell, pungent, sweet or otherwise (masked by huge amounts of air freshener or spicy cooking etc etc). Remember, your tenants will always have a very plausible excuse for what ever you spot.

So the best bet is to deter them from picking you as their landlord.

Sounds like a voice of experience. I've never been cursed with this problem but I've spoken to several landlords who have and they all tell stories along very similar lines to what you have cited Steve. Either I've been lucky or my rigorous and nosey vetting procedure has put the crooks off. Law of averages says that I must have been targeted at some point, simply due to the number of tenant viewings I've had over the years. I've sometimes wondered why "that lovely couple" didn't proceed and questioned whether my vetting is too harsh and put people off. Just goes to show doesn't it, if your property is good enough quality and competitively priced you can't be too vigilant and you will always find the right tenants without the need to take risks. Great advice, great contribution, thank you.

Telling everyone that view, that you take a good quality photo of
all the people you rent too may go some way to put the criminals off.  The front person does not wish to be linked
to the crime. 
Maybe sending a photo of the prospective
talent with every reference request would make it harder for the “front person”
to use a fake ID.   I don’t think I can
tell a fake passport form a real one unless maybe it is a UK password, but we
are not allowed these days to only rent to people with uk passports – a UK
driving licence mean very little as so few checks are on before they are given
out.
But I am thinking more and more that you can’t beat a home owner guarantor.