A family in B.C.'s Interior has found out the hard way that professional home inspections can sometimes fail to detect serious problems.
Theresa Denton and Kevin Dye thought everything was fine when they bought their home in Pinantan Lake, near Kamloops, but they quickly they learned the house used to be a grow-op.
Despite one attempt at having it cleaned-up, there's still mould and Dye and his family have been told the home is unsafe.
"They've told us if you've got somewhere else to go -- leave," Dye said.
"I was absolutely stunned," said Denton. "Totally stunned."
They moved out at one point because the whole family was feeling sick.
A grow-op history is supposed to be marked on the realtor's property disclosure forms, but it wasn't done by the previous owner in this case.
The man that sold them the house used to grow marijuana at the residence and was convicted for it before it went up for sale.
The realtor, Maggie Schmaltz of Royal LePage Westwin in Kamloops, handled both ends of the deal.
CTV News went to her home, but was instructed to direct any questions to Schmaltz's lawyer.
The property inspector says he didn't see any mould.
"I did my job to the best of my abilities," said Dave Mahoney. "But the problem is with the seller for not disclosing the grow-op on the forms."
"There was nothing offered," Denton said. "From the realtor or the home inspector or anyone that was involved in the transaction."
And the Consumer Advocacy and Support for Home-owners Society says it's an all too common situation.
"The Theresa Denton case is just the latest," homeowner advocate John Grasty said. "But Hope, Surrey, Richmond, Smithers, Vancouver, Coquitlam. They're coming from all over."
Theresa Denton and Kevin Dye say they plan to beg and borrow whatever's necessary to get their case to court.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
