Landlady rumbles cannabis factory

5:15pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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A solicitor has been hit with a repair bill for thousands-of-pounds after tenants turned her Edgware buy-to-let into a cannabis factory.

Olivia de Cordova, 57, was horrified to discover that her apparently “perfect” tenants had gutted the Grange Close house and filled it with cannabis crops, causing around £5,500-worth of damage.

Ms de Cordova, from Kingsbury, rumbled the crooks herself when she found dozens of bags of compost in the garage and asked a friend to break into the house, in the quiet cul-de-sac.

As well as two rooms filled with drugs they discovered ventilation shafts drilled through ceilings, chains hanging from the walls to support sprinklers and extra-strength lighting, soaked carpets and dodgy wiring.

“I’m so upset that it could happen,” said Ms de Cordova. “I know these things go on but I thought people would use their own property.

“I never thought someone would do this to me. I’m not someone who usually gets conned but I’ve been so busy lately.”

After making the discovery on Thursday, November 6, she called the police, who sealed off the property and seized the haul of drugs, though they left a bucket full of cannabis leaves in the bathroom.

The tenants scarpered before they were found out and have not yet been arrested.

They had been renting the house for around two years and Ms de Cordova inspected the property as recently as March but did not realise what was going on.

She said: “I did thing they were a bit dodgy, but dodgy with other things - like maybe they weren’t paying the right tax, and when I asked them for ID they fobbed me off. I never would have thought they were growing drugs.

“Looking back now, I feel I should have put two and two together. There were lots of small things but I didn’t think there was anything majorly wrong.”

Residents of Grange Close asked Ms de Cordova how she had found such “perfect” tenants and would keep their music down because they were reluctant to disturb their quiet neighbours.

Ms de Cordova now wants to put the property on the market, after forking out at at least £5,500 in repairs.

“I’m facing life and saying at least the house didn’t burn down, I don’t have cancer and I can still make money,” she said. “I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“I’ll clean it up and and try to forget about it, but I’ll always tell people to be carefull. I’m on a mission to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

If you have any information about other premises in the borough that may be being used to cultivate drugs, contact Barnet Police on 020 8733 5859 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.