A woman has contacted La Voz to denounce the nightmare she is experiencing. She rented her house to a family in San Bartolomé in 2016, but the tenant dedicated the apartment to cannabis cultivation. Now, after the man left the house, the woman is having difficulties facing the cost of the renovation that must be done to make the house habitable again.
As she explained, "after the pandemic arrived, the delays in rent payments began to become more and more noticeable." Over time, the tenant stopped paying and the owner decided to talk to him. "He became very aggressive and threatened me with legal action, which would cost me a lot of money and take years," she says. In addition, he registered at the house.
After five months without paying, the owner showed up at the house to talk to the tenant. As he ignored the owner, she decided to report him. "The police began to watch the house and his lawyer told me that he was going to move because he would not let him enjoy the property," she declares. "I informed the agents of what was happening and they caught him that same night trying to move the 300 plants together with two other men," the owner clarifies.
After recovering her property, the owner has had to face the renovation of the house with money she does not have. "The electrical installation cost me 2,000 euros," she points out. She also needs at least 20,000 euros for this renovation. "I have already spent 15,000 euros over the years," she says.
On the other hand, it is the case that the tenant had a cannabis business in Puerto del Carmen. Through the establishment's Facebook page, the owner found photos of two rooms in her apartment in which the man had a plantation of this substance. "I sent him the photos and he told me that it was not my house," she explains.
When the landlord was able to access the house, she was able to verify that he did not really live there, but rather dedicated the house to cannabis cultivation. "The whole house was a plantation, all the rooms and even the kitchen," she recalls.
The tenant, after leaving the house, moving to Tahíche and doing the same with another house, was discovered and his business was closed because "illegal substances were found in it." However, the trial against the defendant has not been able to be carried out. "The court has not been able to get the summons to the trial, so it is always canceled," she laments.
In addition, due to the tenant's non-payment, the woman had to find three jobs for a period of six months because she could not face the bills. Likewise, the woman regrets that "the courts, the police and the politicians do nothing" and believes that the state government "does not care about the citizens", since neither the trial has been held nor the tenant has been convicted.
