“I turned on the lights and ‘oh my God, a meter of dirt in my bedroom‘” says Charles Reeves, still in disbelief, as he shows the BBC his house. “I’m surprised the ground has withstood all this.”
Reeves, a homeowner in north London, returned from working abroad and He found his family home converted into a cannabis cultivation.
Criminals, posing as tenants, had dumped 10 tons of dirt on the property. The sophisticated operation caused extensive damage to the house and left the family devastated.
According to experts, these types of crimes are on the rise, and criminals appear to be taking advantage of lengthy eviction processes to carry out illegal cannabis cultivation operations before disappearing.
Police seized more than 400 cannabis plants from Reeves’ home.
The Reeves family put their property up for rent online when they were preparing to go abroad. A real estate agent contacted them when he found out that they would be away for an extended period. He promised them a family of tenants, supposedly workers from a company in London’s financial district and with children.
However, The “tenants” turned out to be scammers who never paid rent and used the property for criminal activities.. It was later discovered that the real estate agent was running a fake site and that the tenants were fictitious.
Police told Reeves this was one of the worst cases of this type of crime they had seen. More than 400 cannabis plants were seized from the property, with an estimated value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The criminals installed an elaborate ventilation and wiring system to keep the crop in optimal conditions.
Reeves went to the property after managing to obtain a court order to enter the house since the rent had not been paid.
He knocked on the door and was greeted by several men, one of whom stated that the property was in good condition. After half an hour, the men had disappeared. It is not known what role they played in cultivation.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Reeves said, describing the moment he entered the house. “Cannabis offenders dumped 10 tonnes of dirt in the master bedroom.
“The whole place had been transformed into a drug factory. “There were holes in the ceiling, cables everywhere and the smell was unbearable.”
A tangle of cables came from the ceiling of the bedroom to supply power to the cannabis cultivation.
It is estimated that the cost of repairing the damage caused will exceed US$25,000, and that the Reeves family will have to assume it.
The emotional impact on the family, both from the rent scam and the damage caused to their home, has been immense.
Charles’s wife, Julia, said, “When it comes to property, especially a house that you’ve lived in for almost 20 years and raised your son in… It’s pretty horrible to feel like you’re being attacked in the center, in that inner sanctuary, that place of comfort who we could trust in the city, it is our home, it is very painful.”
For Charles, “emotionally, it feels like my house has been desecrated. That’s what I feel. The damage, the dirt, all this dirt everywhere.
“This is the first real home I ever had. We are broken and devastated.”
The Reeves, a family of four, lived happily on the property before moving to the United States.
Metropolitan Police figures show that they were discovered more than 1,000 cannabis crops in London between 2018 and 2023. However, experts believe this figure is only a small proportion of the crops currently in operation.
According to Allen Morgan, one of the UK’s leading experts on criminal drug trials and a former police officer, scam rents linked to cannabis crops are on the rise.
“We are seeing a clear increase in this type of crime, in which criminals take advantage of the rental market to set up illegal cultivation operations,” he says.
“Criminals take advantage of the legal system and the eviction process. They know that it can take months to evict a tenant, even if they stop paying rent. During this time, they can complete multiple cultivations and make a significant profit before disappearing without a trace.”
The lack of regulation related to property rentals has facilitated the activity of scammers. Real estate agents are not required to qualify, even though they manage significant assets. This can leave owners vulnerable to scams and other criminal activity.
“If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Morgan warns. “If someone shows up offering to pay cash and needs to move immediately, alarm bells should start ringing.”
The cannabis trade has evolved from small-scale cultivation to sophisticated multi-million dollar operations, allegedly run by international criminal groups. London, with its vast local market and extensive transport network, has become a drug distribution centre.
“The problem with London is obviously that it is one of the main drug distribution centers in the whole of the UK,” explains Morgan.
“When you convert a rental house into a cultivation center, you have five, six, maybe seven separate growing areas in which you can produce cannabis plants, obviously discreetly and without any type of evidentiary link.”
Charles looking at what used to be his comfortable bedroom.
Police say what happened to the Reeves family is still being investigated, but the reality is that innocent homeowners are being left to pick up the slack for London’s growing drug crime problem.
The Reeves hope that by sharing their story, they can raise awareness about this growing problem and prevent other homeowners from falling victim to similar scams.
“We want people to be aware of the risks and take every precaution possible when renting their properties,” Reeves said. “No one should go through what we have gone through.
“Not only was it fraud, it was the destruction of our home.”
