Matt Maurer speaks to Cannabis IQ – Global News about growing cannabis on a rental property

Torkin Manes' Cannabis Law Group Co-Chair, Matt Maurer, was featured in the recent newsletter, Cannabis IQ – Global News.

A reader asked:

I would like to know if it’s legal to grow at a rental property that I have lived at for over 10 years.

Cannabis lawyer Matt Maurer took this one on. The answer has three aspects:

“If your rental home is where you ordinarily reside then it is your dwelling house for the purposes of the legislation and you are permitted to grow cannabis there, in according with the legislation,” he writes.

On the other hand, some provinces have added their own rules, which you’ll need to pay attention to. In New Brunswick, for example, outdoor grows have to have a tall fence, and in B.C. they can’t be visible from outside the property.

“Certain provinces have imposed additional restrictions on home growing, which they are more or less permitted to do under the federal law. I say more or less because some provinces, like Quebec, have banned home growing entirely and there is an argument that an outright ban on home growing vs. a modification of the federal law is not constitutional. Although that has yet to be challenged definitively in court.”

And in a rental situation, it depends on what your lease says.

“It is possible for a landlord to impose terms, before the landlord/tenant relationship is established, prohibiting growing in the rental unit. Also, some condominiums have imposed bans on growing within the condominium,” Maurer wrote.

This was originally published in Cannabis IQ – Global News. To read the full newsletter, click here.