Recently purchased duplex need advice

[Trevor Petri]

Hello all,

I purchased a duplex this year with my wife at the beginning of April. It is recently renovated has a ground floor unit and an upstairs unit. Currently the entrance way to the upstairs unit has access to the basement which is shared to both units.

My question is should I build a wall separating both units completely so that they do not have any shared area nor run into eachother unless outdoors? This would remove laundry currently for the upstairs unit as it is only in the basement. I had a plumber come out and it’s around $5k to get washer/dryer hookup installed upstairs which I may pursue but not sure if I can justify this at the moment due to not having a huge emergency fund.

I currently have a tenant upstairs which is a good friend of mine but they are leaving at the end of September so removing laundry would not hurt any current renters. I’m living in the bottom unit as well at the moment if that matters.

I’ve read several places that it’s hard to rely on both tenants to get along for the shared laundry situation to work and I want to avoid as much as that as possible. I also think the added privacy of the units being completely separate is a plus.

I know this will hurt the upstairs rent but I’m not sure by how much as this is my first property (and first real tenant). I currently have it listed for $2,100 rent (current tenant paying $1,800) 3 bed 1 bath (basement has another full bath although potentially removing that) have about 20 inquiries so far with the unit not being able to be toured until middle of September. 

Looking for advice on this and what you would do in my situation. Thank you!