Disclosing drug labs????

[Ramona]

I have a question on a similar area: If, during the course of an inspection, you find evidence of an illegal activity, are we in violation of USPAP (privacy policy) for calling the police? I assume the answer is "yes", but what if a child or animal were at risk (child/pet abuse/neglect going on)? Would you call the police? Could we lose our licenses for doing so? A news story several months ago about a teenager, chained and starved in the parent's attic (he died, at 16 yrs old, and 75 lbs), and news stories about neglected/abused pets (the latest was a 17 yr old German Shepherd, found chained and frozen to the ground, 50 lbs underweight)- these articles have been making me think about what would happen if I saw something on an inspection. I think we'd have to call the police, regardless of USPAP, but wondered if any of you had experience with this, or if there are any "loopholes" in USPAP to cover this type of thing.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

I did call the authorities about a house where the floor was rotting through in places and a baby was on the bare wood living room floor among the dog and cat feces.

I'd go to jail myself rather than not make that call in that circumstance.

Now..... the immigrants catching any birds they could in their subdivision back yard to cook and eat...... as much as I hated it, I will not call on them.

 

[Randy Beigh]

Ramona

Some of what I am going to say may sound harsh, so I apologize in advance.

You need to be able to differentiate between civil and criminal.

If I see a marijuana plant in the back yard, I'm not turning anybody in, but if there is a whole field of grass , then I'm calling it in.

If I see somebody spank their child, I'm not turning it in. If, however, they are using a baseball bat on the kid, I'm calling it in.

You are not likely to see this stuff for several reasons. The biggest reason is the owners aren't going to let you close to the problem. Trust me, if there is a chained up kid in the attic, the owner is going to discourage you from looking in the attic by any means possible.

Now, you mentioned USPAP. This issue has little of nothing to do with USPAP and maybe you should re-read it.

Read lines 310-312. "An appraiser must not disclose confidential information or assignment results prepared for a client to anyone other than the client and persons specifically authorized by the client: state enforcement agencies and third parties as may be authorized by due process of law."

It is hard for me to imagine that appraisers would ever think that confidentiality would mean to ignore criminal activity. First and foremost, you are an American citizen and the reponsibilities that come with that happen to supercede anything that appraisers do for a living.

 

[Daniel Williams]

I agree With Randy...,well stated btw.

The only time I ever found anything I felt to be "reportable" was when an attached garage was "converted" in to a Cat Motel....well over 100 cats in a12x18 (and it was finished w/drywall,carpet and a 1/2 bath...go figure). The owner was VERY hesitant to show me the space, funny thing is not a single cat in the house....
I knew they were somewhere cause no matter how much you try to hide it....a litter box for 100+ cats STINKS.

 

[Larry Lyke]

Supposedly. it would be a violation of USPAP to call the police and tell them 'you saw this parent beating their child at 2:00 pm today in their $298,538 house at 123 Elm St.'

Happily, in Minnesota, anybody who calls the police regarding child endangerment is protected by statute.

 

[larryhaskell]

Daniel:

Very interesting, in Illinois you have cat motels & in Nevada we have cat houses or so I'm told.

 

[Ramona]

Ahhh, I have ***/u/med that any information about the property garnered from the inspection was confidential as well as the final value. Thanks, all.

 

[Stone]

I don't think, or at least I hope that I haven't appraised any houses with meth labs. I have, however, run across some houses when looking at comps, that have something going on. It's pretty fun to go down a nice dirt/gravel road in a very remote area to look at land, and seeing a very poor condition house or manufactured home with a large sign explaining the video monitoring and security of the property at the locked gate. Hmm....take the photo and get the heck out of there. I am sure it is more dangerous in big cities, but the backwoods areas have their own brand of fear. And now meth heads have been added to the list.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

[/b]confidentiality does not apply to illegal activity! I would be careful though about what is parential right and what is child abuse. Some people's spankings are another persons "beatings". Obvious child abuse should be immediately reported in my not so humble opinion.

 

[Larry Lyke]

Mike ~

Thankfully, by statute in Minnesota, if you suspect child endangerment, you don't have to try to sort it out yourself. Just report it and let the authorities figure it out.

I know the possibilities for its misuse. But that is usually within close range of familiars. The stranger is totally protected -- and that includes busybodies.

We are working on a pet law too, wherein animals would get more protection. Some bad owners treat their pets like the chattel that the pets are. When the pets get old or misbehave or breed too prolifically, they cast them off or let them starve to death at the end of a chain somewhere. So sad.