Like it or not, marijuana is now legal in California as it is in Alaska, Oregon, Colorado and Washington but with it now being legal for someone to buy and have on their person does it mean that there are still regulations that have to be followed and should you amend your marijuana policy?

• If you have a mortgage on the property, your loan documents may require you to comply with both state and federal laws at all times. Allowing marijuana use on your property could expose you to risk if someone determines that you have breached the loan documents.

• Similarly, if you have accepted any public subsidies for your property (from historic and low-income housing tax credits to Section 8 tenants), you are most likely required to comply with both state and federal laws as a condition of those subsidies. The use of marijuana on your property could result in an allegation of civil or criminal fraud.

• The property owner is not the only person who can be held liable for the breach of state or federal laws. That risk extends to property managers and other agents acting on the owners’ behalf.

• Insurance companies generally do not cover damage caused by illegal activities. After Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, there was a spike in apartment fires caused by tenants trying to condense marijuana into a concentrated form using butane.

• Units exposed to smoke (not just from marijuana, but also cigarettes and cigars) cost more to maintain.

• Marijuana smoke may be considered a nuisance to other tenants, and could open up a landlord or property manager to complaints—or worse, claims that secondhand smoke has caused adverse health conditions among the property’s other residents. – Learn more.

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