Property Owners Who Lease or Rent to Pot Shops May Lose Their Property to the Feds for Violating Federal Law

Eagle Rock pot shop landlords threatened with federal action

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The owners of at least Eagle Rock buildings with marijuana stores could lose their properties under federal lawsuits filed today. The government filed forfeiture lawsuits against three Colorado Boulevard properties as part of a coordination action-including the serving of search warrants-today against more than 70 pot shops, including a store in Silver Lake. The federal complaint against the three Eagle Rock properties claims the landlords knowingly allowed the shops to sell marijuana in violation of federal laws.

The outlets include:

• The Together for Change Collective, 2501 Colorado Boulevard.
  “During an LAPD investigation against a prior store at the same location in May 2011, officers seized more than 500 marijuana plants and over $5,000 in cash from the store, as well as $14,912 in cash and a semi-automatic rifle,” said the Department of Justice.

• House of Kush, 1632 Colorado Boulevard.
  The store and property owner are the subjects of a civil abatement action filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office,” said the Department of Justice.

• ER Collective, 1121 Colorado Boulevard
  LAPD executed a search warrant in June 2010 on a prior store at the same location and seized approximately 11.4 kilograms of marijuana, 4.5 kilograms of hashish, liquid THC, and $17,000 in cash, said the Department of Justice.

Some of the earlier forfeiture lawsuits against marijuana store landlords have been settled without the loss of property, said a Department of Justice spokesman. In those cases, the stores were closed, the landlords gave up the rent earned from the shops and agreed never to lease the space to marijuana-related businesses in the future.