What to do about bad neighbors...

[Carlos Santiago]

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!