P-making tenants a landlord's nightmare

Dangerous drug laboratories are located in otherwise normal neighbourhoods throughout Tauranga - costing landlords thousands of dollars to clean up.
Jeremy Hooper, manager of Enviro Clean and Restoration in Mount Maunganui, receives about one call a month from landlords inquiring about clean-up costs due to methamphetamine having been cooked in their rental properties.
The cost to decontaminate houses can range anywhere from $200 to $20,000-plus, depending on the extent of contamination, Mr Hooper says.
Redecorating was often on top of that.
In Mr Hooper's most extensive clean-up last year - costing $10,000 - wallpaper, carpet and lino had to be stripped from a house in Pyes Pa and the wall lining taken right back to the framing.
He has cleaned up about eight P houses in the three years the Tauranga franchise has been operating.
"It [the clean-up] is a difficult process. It's just being thorough enough to get everything ... it's the gas that's emitted in the baking process that we're trying to get rid of. The vapours will get into anything."
Cleaners like Mr Hooper, who is trained in managing hazardous goods, have to wear protective overalls and respirators.
"Some of those gases can give you a headache if you're not wearing [that gear] and I have had a burning in my throat before. It really has to be cleaned if you want anyone to live in the place later on."
Mr Hooper said his franchise used a cleaning product imported from the United States called Blast, the key ingredient of which was tripolyphosphate. The rest of the cleaning was mainly just "elbow grease".
Jack Travis, Tauranga City Council's hazardous substances officer, said council was contacted by police if they came across a "contaminated" house.
Council then issued a cleaning order to the homeowner.
If the house remained contaminated, it was put on the house's LIM report and had the potential to possibly affect the sale of the house later on.
Auckland based company Dowdell and Associates travel New Zealand assessing P labs and they outline to cleaners what needs to be done.
To travel to Tauranga, they charge up to $1000 for the first consultation - this is to assess the level of contamination - and around $500 to $600 for a second assessment after the clean-up.
Depending on the level of contamination, more than one clean-up might be required, owner and biochemist, Quenton Dowdell, said.
The risk to members of the public living next to a P lab is "relatively low" when it comes to health effects, but there are environmental risks with the dumping of chemicals down drain pipes, and the risk of possible explosions and fire is significant.
Mr Dowdell said few homes used as P-labs needed all internal walls ripped out.
He said his company accessed the condition of houses and looked at them from a health and safety angle.
As long as houses were assessed and cleaned properly, it was safe to return.
Many normal households - without the presence of P - had the presence of acetone, toluene and iodine in and around them anyway.
Mr Dowdell said his company checked visual evidence first when entering a house and then looked for any "volatile organic compound".
The whole process of testing took about 90 minutes.
"If we find any residual methamphetamine, we have to decontaminate it.
"While it might not have any effect on adults, it has been shown to have an effect on newborn babies."
The company also tests for marijuana, heroin and cocaine.
Dan Keller, owner of the Tauranga franchise Quinovic Property Management and president of Tauranga Property Investors Association, said it was a landlord's "ultimate fear" to have their rentals used for the manufacture or dealing of drugs.
"They can set them up [P labs] within a few hours and then they're producing."
He advised landlords to band together and become members of the Property Investors Association, which provides support, legal advice and education.
"Rentals need to be run as a business and when you have half-a-million-dollar properties, checks on tenants need to be done before they move in."
Recovering money from tenants other than their four-week bond, could be "very hard," Mr Keller said.