Property owners get the bill for meth cleanup even if they had nothing to do with the illegal drug. It can cost thousands of dollars, and it’s leaving some property owners the latest victims in the meth epidemic.

“It's scary,” said property owner Ed Keim. “It is really scary."

After a stranger brought a meth lab hidden inside a cooler into Keim's rental property, he never imagined he would have to pay more than $10,000 to clean what it would leave behind.

“I did not know him,” added Keim. In fact, Keim wasn’t even on the property – he had rented it out to someone else. However, once police dismantled the lab, Keim was left with a big cleanup.

Indiana law requires property owners to decontaminate their property after police bust a meth lab. Until that's done and deemed safe by a state certified inspector, no one can live at the property and the owner isn't allowed to sell it.

Environmentalist Tara Still with the Elkhart County Health Department monitors these properties in Elkhart County.

“It started out at about one a month and now it can be 1 to 2 a week,” said Still.

Since the law went into effect in 2007, she's been assigned some 55 properties. Of those properties, 31 remain empty. The main reason is the cost involved.

The state sets strict standards on cleaning the properties and requires expensive environmental tests. It can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $40,000.

“The chemicals that are now soaked into everything will eventually give off,” explained Still of the meth residues. “They'll gas off, so over time when you're in there for a few hours and laying on the couch that has chemicals on it — it can have chronic effects."

Elkhart construction and property manager Rob Baldwin was hired to clean up the inside of a house after police busted a meth lab inside it.

“I got a small child at home and wife, and she was scared to death I was going to bring those residues home,” said Baldwin.

At about 800 square feet, it still took months to finally pass the required tests by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

“I wouldn’t do it again for under $10,000,” said Baldwin. “Even a small house — I wouldn't do it again for under $10,000. There are just too many risks and too much work involved."

At Ed Keim’s rental property the work piled up.

“We had to remove everything from the premise. The furnace and heating system were totally disassembled and washed three times. We had to have the septic system pumped. All the air ducts were cleaned. The carpet was removed,” listed Keim.

It totaled 250 hours of work and left him hoping he never has to do it again.

“You do the best you can, but what can you do? Just pray that it doesn't happen to you,” said Keim.

Rarely does insurance cover the costs to clean these properties and many will continue to sit empty.

Still also believes this may be the tip of the iceberg because these properties are only the ones busted by police.

The long-term effects of meth are not known, but may include neurological and breathing problems.