Problems with meth in your rental property may arise in a number of different ways. It may be the case that a tenant or landlord discovers that a prior tenant (or prior owner) used the property to manufacture meth, used to manufacture meth when it was vacant for a period of time in between tenants, or it may be that the current tenants are manufacturing meth. Unfortunately, we have seen all of these scenarios.
Regardless of how the problem arose, the landlord will be faced with the prospect of cleaning the property. The first step in this process is to contact the county health department. Each county has a division dedicated to mitigation of meth production. The county will be able to provide the landlord with the proper clean up procedures required by that particular county. While the specifics vary by county, the general procedure is that a professional assessment must be done and then an industrial hygienist must clean the property. It is important that the landlord remain in close contact with the county to ensure that the proper tests and cleaning are conducted and that the industrial hygienist is qualified. There are several operations in Colorado who claim to be “industrial hygienists” but are not qualified to do this work.
If the tenants currently living in the property were the ones manufacturing meth, the landlord should contact an attorney to move forward with eviction proceedings. If the current tenants were not the ones manufacturing meth, the landlord should still consult an attorney. Colorado law dictates how a landlord should handle the assessment and possible cleaning of the tenant’s belongings.
