someone clean up my apartment (and clean my laundry)

[Ryan Fox]

I recently purchased a 5-unit apartment complex.  It has a laundry room that hasn't been used and none of the units have washer / dryer hookups.  After closing on it, my property manager discovered through interviewing tenants that the reason the laundry room has been closed is one of the tenants would go in there, hang out and do hardcore drugs.  These tenants have a lease that goes through June of 2023.  So far, my PM has not been able to observe any direct evidence of these tenants using or selling drugs, so we can't evict at this point.  

My question is whether to attempt to re-open the laundry room or hold off until we can get those tenants out.  Two of the units are currently vacant and we want to be able to bring in high-caliber tenants who will appreciate laundry facilities.  However, at the same time, we don't want the drug-using tenants to go in there and possibly vandalize equipment or make the laundry room a place where other tenants would prefer not to enter.  

The property is in a C-class area, so we kind of have to try hard to attract high-quality tenants.  Most neighboring properties offer laundry facilities.  The vacant units will be fully rehabbed before being leased, and we'll use stringent tenant selection criteria, but I'm not sure that will do the trick.  There are other laundromats a couple blocks away.  

My goal is to hold onto the property for a long time and benefit from increasing rents.

[Greg Scott]

Put in a camera.  If you see drug use, seek an emergency eviction.