Meth house busts can leave property owners with hefty clean-up bills
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Records show the number of properties being busted for meth-related activities are on the decline, but experts said if the homes aren’t properly cleaned, the hazards left behind by dangerous chemicals can stick around for years.
According to a list provided by the Kalamazoo County Health Department, more than 1,100 properties, including homes, apartments, motels and cars, have been busted for meth since 2004. County Environmental Health Director Lucus Pols said busted homes are condemned and stay that way until they’re cleaned to the county’s standards.
While Pols said the county’s remediation standards are among the strictest in the state, the cleaning process can leave unknowing property owners with a hefty bill.
Condemnation
Pols said once police make a bust for cooking or smoking meth, the involved property is condemned and considered uninhabitable.
“Meth is something that can affect people through their skin. We don't want people to inhale it,” Pols said. “There's a lot of bad things that go into meth.”
As of October 2019, there were 12 properties in the county that were still condemned, some of which Pols said have been that way for years. Pols said the county won’t release the condemnation status until a property has been properly remediated.
“There's no if’s, and’s or but’s about it,” he said. “They have to go through that process.”
Procedures on how to safely remove meth contaminants are explained in state guidelines. While homeowners are technically allowed to do the cleaning themselves, Pols recommends that property owners hire a professional company.
“We don’t want anyone getting meth on them, anything like that,” he said.
Even if homeowners opt to clean their own properties, getting the condemnation status removed requires professional testing to prove their homes no longer pose a health risk.
Racking up a bill
Michael Pinto runs WonderMakers Environmental, one of the companies approved to conduct testing of condemned meth homes. He said testing can cost anywhere from about $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the size of the property.
That’s separate from other clean-up costs, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars for big jobs, Pinto said.
“[It could be] $50,000, $60,000 by the time you remove everything, get everything cleaned, pre- and post-testing, and then put everything back to make it habitable again,” he said.
Part of the cost includes removing and replacing soft materials such as carpets and furniture, which absorb meth contaminants.
Pinto said sometimes, his company will have to test a property multiple times before it’s clean enough to pass county standards. He said contracted companies usually get the cleaning done on the first try, but property owners who do it themselves tend to have more trouble — costing them more money in testing fees in the long run.
Property owner liability
Pinto said commonly, homeowners don’t know that someone was cooking or smoking meth on their properties until it’s too late.
“Most of the time when we get the call, it's not the individual who's done the cooking or anything like that,” he said, noting the incident usually involves a rental tenant or family member.
“They're overwhelmed by what happened many times,” he said. “They don't anticipate these sorts of things.”
He recalled one instance where a grandmother allowed her grandson to move in with her after he’d fallen on hard times.
“One of the reasons, perhaps, his life was difficult was that he was a meth addict. He ended up cooking in grandma's house,” Pinto said.
Pinto said the grandson was busted, and the grandma’s house was condemned.
“So the human drama that's involved in these is very difficult to deal with sometimes, but as professionals we have to give them our best advice,” Pinto said. “And it certainly isn't safe for her to live in that area of the house.”
Pols said it’s not uncommon for property owners to abandon condemned property.
“I think a lot of times it's cheaper just to do that — to get rid of those homes. A lot of times those homes that have been sitting around for a while; it's just too much money to put into it,” he said. “A lot of times, especially in the city of Kalamazoo, they get foreclosed on or something happens, and they will get demolished.”
A decreasing trend
According to the Kalamazoo County Health Department, the number of meth property seizures is on a sharp decline. There’s been just one seizure in the county in 2019, compared to a high of 122 seizures in both 2005 and 2008.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff James VanDyken said meth busts are on the decline because the drug is now being shipped in from producers in Mexico, meaning users are less likely to cook it in their homes.
Yet, Pinto said, the number of busts might not tell the whole story.
“I’m not law enforcement, but I would say we're just getting the tip of the ice berg,” he said. “I would think there's contaminated structures out there that no one knows about. So, the ones that are on the list of having meth labs in them, we need to be very careful and make sure they're cleaned properly.”
A home’s history
Pinto recommended that homebuyers check the county list to see if a home they plan to buy has a history as a meth lab. If so, he recommended that they contact the health department to ensure the property has been properly remediated.
“What they don't want to find out five years down the road is, ‘Oh, my home was at one time condemned for meth,’” he said. “I think it's important they know where to go to look, even if they're looking to buy a home.”
Michigan’s Seller Disclosure Act of 1993 requires that sellers disclose the condition of their properties to potential buyers. While there is a section that asks sellers to explain environmental problems with the property, including asbestos, lead paint, or chemical storage tanks, there is not a specific section for drug-related activity.