Mission homeowners stuck with suspected grow-op

One day the Gelbanks were getting multiple offers on their Mission home, the next they were sitting on a suspected grow-op.

“It felt like a nuclear bomb,” said Mina Gelbanks.

The would-be buyer had checked with the District of Mission and found that the Grebe Crescent home was subject to an investigation, hit with a fine and list of remediation work.

The investigation and all the necessary work was completed long before the Gelbanks had purchased the home two years ago. So when they did their own home inspection nothing came up. The couple is now wondering why they didn’t receive the same disclosure about the grow-op investigation report when they purchased the home

“We were tricked by the original seller, we were tricked by his realtor, and we were tricked by our realtor,” said Lea Gelbanks.

The Gelbanks allege when they received a crossed-out a disclosure report, their buying agent Faiene Grant never flagged it as incomplete. Instead, they assumed it meant there was simply nothing to disclose.

Grant did not respond to calls from Global News, but her brokerage released this statement:

“RE/MAX Little Oak Realty and all our licensees take our fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of our clients very seriously. In this instance we have been instructed to forward all media inquiries to The Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.”

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According to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s professional standards manager, Dennis Wilson, crossed-out disclosure forms should act as a red flag.

“That means they haven’t commented so you’d expect they would need to do extra due diligenece,” said Wilson.

Global News also contacted the selling agent, Matt Thiessen, who says his client bought the house in a private sale about three months before selling it to the Gelbanks.

“I’ve sold quite a few grow-ops in the past and I have a history of always disclosing.”

“If we would’ve known it would have been disclosed,” added Thiessen.

Thiessen said he checked with the District of Mission, alleging staff failed to tell him inspection reports for suspected grow-ops are often held at the Fire Hall.

Wilson says Mission is unique in its record keeping, but says it’s the responsibility of agents to learn the different systems across the region.

“We have over six different municipalities that have different ways of managing these types of things and it’s absolutely prudent… that a buyer or seller realtor be very aware of where to go and where to get that information,” he said.

The District of Mission is also firing back saying staff handle similar realtor requests on a daily basis.

The Gelbanks said they tried contacting their buying agent and her managing broker hoping for an explanation.

“This is the job they have to do. This is what they’re being paid for,” said Mina.

She says RE/MAX Little Oak Realty also responded with a letter from The Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation saying it will defend the brokerage vigorously.

The Gelbanks say because others left them blind to the real history of their home, they’ve been forced to watch further offers fall through.

“The house is beautiful as it is but let’s face it there’s a stigma to it,” added Mina.