What to do about bad neighbors...

Question

Does anyone have any suggestions to deal with the following situation:  We have a rental house (in a decent neighborhood).  Next door is a run-down 4-plex (1 bedroom units).  We've owned our house for 4 years and just in the last 2 years the 4-plex has become a huge problem.  It constantly was filled with tenants who were dealing drugs, then the place went into forclosure and vagrants moved in, now its been resold and the new owner is only charging $275/mo (this is in Tacoma, WA - so that is insanely cheap).  So, the future looks filled with scum tenants and I'm doubtful that the building will be rehabbed.  I haven't talked with the new owner.  Any suggestions?  Besides burning the place down ;)  Aren't there laws against bringing down the property values in a neighborhood?  Everyone on the block was calling the police on the place back when the drug dealers were living there.  But, it seemed like the police had other more important things to do.  I'm so sick of this problem -- its making it really difficult to keep my house rented!

Mark N.A · Answer

I'm very pro-active when any of my tenants tell me there's drug activity going on or any other kind of nuisance.

We've got a great police force that will increase patrols, enforce code violations, enforce leash laws and so on.  What works best is when the municipality makes official notice to the landlord that someone has been arrested for drug dealing/use on their property.  If the LL knows of this and lets it continue the municipality can confiscate his place.

Ha, I was once rehabbing a place across the street from a crack house and gave the cops a key so they could sneak into my place, observe the buys, and then have the druggie arrested once he was out of sight.  That place was out of business in less than a day.

Doreen Arminio · Answer

we just bought a  3 family and fixed it up beautifully.  Then the next door neighbor rented to a bunch of loud mouths.  Nothing illegal, as i can see, but just loud mouthed, mf- cursing, motorcylce riding, fighting w/ eachother, hanging in the yard, beer drinking, pool shooting, kids screaming, neighbors.  what to do?

Michael Rossi · Answer

I would start by calling the landlord and determining his intentions.  Tell him what is going on at the property and how it is damaging your property value and your ability to get tenants.  
            
            If that doesn't work, then you need to GET MEAN!  Call your city council person and complain.  Call the police EVERY TIME you see something illegal.  Call the local drug task force or similar entity.  If appropriate, call the building department; the health department, code enforcement; nuisance board, etc, etc, etc.  
            
            People usually take the path of least resistance.  If taking care of the place is less painful than dealing with you, he'll take care of it.
            
            While you're at it, have all the other neighbors get mean too.  You could organize the neighbors to all show up at a city council meeting.
            
            Good Luck,
            
            Mike

Account Closed · Answer

I try not to buy in any neighborhood that has rentals.  You can get a bad neighbor who owns his own house, but the odds of getting a bad tenant next door is a lot higher than getting a bad owner occupant next door.

It's almost 100% guaranteed that there will be a bad neighbor if the property is managed by a property management company. They just don't seem to care about the quality of their tenants.

It would work well if you could buy the 4-plex and clean it up.

Mark Updegraff · Answer

I'm in a similar situation.  I just got word from my tenants that there are drug deals two doors down.  The house next door is extrememly solid, and next to that they are rehabbing very nice (not sure if rental or OO).  Then there is the problem house, 3 units, open air drug deals, short stops with the engine runnign (parking in whoever's driveway they please).  I started with the local "Net Office" which is for codes etc.  They reported it to the police, and told me to call a Lieutenant if it did not stop.  I was over painting the house the other day and saw a drug deal in the front yard, awesome!  I just called the Lieutenant today and left a message, let's see if anything comes of it...

Jon Holdman · Answer

Could you buy the fourplex?

No, there are no laws against bring down property values.  There are codes, though, and you might be able to press the city on some code violation issue.

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

Carlos - 
I've faced this situation myself.  A property I owned was suddenly surrounded by properties that were not filled with the kind of people you want living around your properties.  This happened over a few short months.
 
So, I decided to cut my losses and sell; I couldn't get anyone to lease for many months, and no manager would manage the property anymore due to the area being so dangerous.

If you're that sick of what's going on, your best option is to sell and move on with your life.

What to do about bad neighbors...

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