Three quarters of property investors will test for meth before buying – Survey

A recent survey conducted by property management company, Crockers Property Management, indicated that three quarters of investors would request testing for methamphetamine before finalising a property purchase. See the full story here.

However, from the same surveyed group, over 50-percent would not conduct testing on property they already own. Only 3-percent would conduct testing every six months, 16-percent would consider testing once a year, and 28-percent would be prepared to test every two years.

The reason? The perceived cost of testing the property for meth is between $200 to $500 for a preliminary test and investors are obviously reluctant to add this to their existing maintenance costs.

Ironically, New Zealand Property Investors’ Federation president Andrew King said it can be very expensive to deal with meth contamination, which is why many landlords want to test a property before they buy. So why wouldn’t you want to protect an investment you already own?

Once you buy the problem, you own the problem which could run into tens of thousands of dollars to remediate, so pre-purchase testing is very sensible. But how would you know whether your current tenants are destroying your investment by using or cooking meth?

There is plenty of helpful information advising what signs of a meth lab to look for. The stains on walls and carpets, covered up windows, extra security features such as bars on windows and CCTV at the doors, strong chemical smells etc, but often there are no signs at all.

If your tenants are cooking up a batch of ice in the garage at the weekend, once they’ve finished, the lab equipment will be stored away, a quick clean-up to get rid of any tell-tale signs, and when you visit to do a scheduled inspection, there is no indication of what they’ve been up to.

Except that the toxic chemical vapours given off from their cook-up have wafted through the house, penetrating walls, ceilings, curtains, and every other surface they come in contact with.

What’s more, the cooks themselves have been sampling their ‘product’ in the lounge and kitchen further adding to the contamination throughout the house. And how would you know?

The only way to be certain is by conducting preliminary, surface testing in several areas of the house. But forget the $200 to $500 cost to do this.

For less than $100 per average house, the Narcotect D4D PenTest surface drug test kit will provide you with a result in seconds providing peace of mind that your investment is safe, and could save you thousands of dollars in repair costs. Don’t risk it. Test it.