The City of Miami Beach has filed a lawsuit against the owner and tenant of a property on Bay Drive that they allege has become a nuisance “party house”
The City of Miami Beach has filed a lawsuit against the owner and tenant of a property that they allege has become a nuisance “party house."
The home, located at 1776 Bay Drive, is described as an "illegal short-term rental" that the City says has amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines and code violations.
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According to the lawsuit, the area has a "single-family residential character" and neighbors have been frequently disturbed by the so-called party house.
The landlord, named in the lawsuit as Stephen Krause, has not taken any action to stop the parties, the City says. According to the lawsuit, Krause has actually "encouraged" them.
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Filed on Thursday, the lawsuit names Krause, The Nightfall Group LLC and Scott Weissman as defendants.
"Kraus purchased the property for $6.5 million in 2020 while The Nightfall Group was identified as the agent for the property and Weissman was identified as the tenant," according to a press release from the City.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of operating an illegal short-term rental business with rates as high as $7,650 per night. Miami Beach defines short-term rentals as anything fewer than six months and a day.
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The City says the property has been listed under various names in short-term rental advertisements, such as "Villa Bay," "The Bay Villa" and "Villa Valena."
Court documents say that Weissman has a total rent obligation of about $84,000 per month under a seven-month lease that began in November 2022.
“Despite there being hundreds of thousands of dollars due and owing to the City, and with interest accruing, the substantial fines imposed by Code Enforcement and the special magistrate still are not an adequate deterrent to stop landlord’s and tenant’s flagrant violations of the City Code,” the lawsuit says.
According to the suit, the landlord and/or tenant have been cited with at least 45 violations of the City Code, which have allegedly incurred substantial fines, since Feb. 8, 2022.
According to the release, "the City also plans to amend its lawsuit to foreclose on liens on the property arising out of the unpaid fines."
If the fines remain unpaid, the City will seek to have the home sold at auction.
