More cases in which premises belonging to Residential Landlords have been used as cannabis factories were discovered recently.
One has resulted in a prison sentence while police are still hunting the tenants from another house which according to police housed one of the biggest growing operations ever found.
Manh Seefeldt who helped grow the illegal substance in a Bristol terraced house with a street value of £86,000 was jailed for 20 months.
A court heard that the property had been rented out to another party for £700 a month but the landlord later became concerned when he couldn’t contact the tenant.
The police made a forced entry to the property and stopped Seefeldt as he tried to escape through a window.
The electric meter had been tampered with and nearly 350 cannabis plants were being grown in four of the rooms.
The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of a Class C drug.
Judge Michael Longman ordered the destruction of all drugs and drugs paraphernalia and the confiscation of £335 found on Seefeldt and at the premises.
Elsewhere, a landlord with a house in Langley, Berkshire found cannabis worth £250,000 when he recently visited his property which it turned out had been sub let by his tenant.
A police report said that there were approximately 800 plants making it one of the largest growing operations discovered so far. The property had been sub-let by the tenant.
• A private that provides private rental homes ‘in the same way as any other landlord’ to criminals recently released from prison and suspects awaiting trial has faced opposition in Devon.
ClearSprings operates the accommodation on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. One of its homes in Willand, near Cullompton, Devon, was closed after a local campaign and other proposed premises in the county have been turned down.
The company is now attempting to open homes in Truro and Redruth.
Taking in the local press, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “ClearSprings provide private rental homes in the same way as any other landlord. They are not hostels.
