How Canada’s new cannabis laws affect homeowners

It’s official: recreational cannabis use is now completely legal in Canada. The long awaited Bill C-45 (aka The Cannabis Act) mandates that Canadians can now enjoy, grow-their-own and purchase weed from regulated providers for personal use.

While users everywhere spark a doob in celebration, prospective and current landlords, homeowners, renters and buyers are unsure how “personal use” will affect the value of their homes, or the parameters under which they enjoy, enforce or restrict any or all marijuana-related activity.

Real estate listings company Zoocasa commissioned and conducted the online survey of more than 1,300 Canadians from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3. In April we posted on how to tell if your dream home might have been  a grow-op, but according to the results released Tuesday, more than half of Canadian homeowners recently surveyed say they would be less likely to consider a property if they knew cannabis had been grown inside.

Other findings:

Fifty-two per cent of homeowners said they’d think twice about buying a home that had been used to grow even a legal amount (up to four plants for personal use) of marijuana.

Respondents generally expressed negative sentiments towards consuming, cultivating and living in close proximity to cannabis use. Fifty-seven per cent of those polled believe even growing the legal amount would devalue property, while only15 per cent of all respondents indicated they’d consider growing cannabis in their homes.

Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of homeowners polled say smoking marijuana in the home could harm a property’s value; 21 per cent disagreed and 15 per cent were neutral.

Condo and apartment dwellers comprised the majority—61 per cent—of those who said that people who live in these properties should not be able to smoke inside their units. Sixty-four per cent believed that condo boards and property managers should have the right to ban residents from using the drugs in their units.

Nearly half of respondents also expressed reluctance to live near a dispensary, with 42 per cent believing that that kind business in their neighbourhood would negatively affect property values. Forty-eight per cent of respondents say proximity of a dispensary would also reduce their desire to purchase a specific property.

We’d love to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Bill C-45? As a landlord, would you restrict your tenants’ cannabis use? As a renter, what do you think your rights are when it comes to cannabis? Potential or current homeowners, how would the presence of a dispensary influence your decision to buy?