MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – The City of Miami Beach filed a lawsuit Thursday against an owner and tenant of a property they say has become a “nuisance party house.”
According to the lawsuit, the home, located at 1776 Bay Drive on Normandy Isle, is being used as an “illegal short-term rental” that Miami Beach officials say has amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines and code violations.
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“Despite the single-family residential character of the RS-4 district, the tenant has been using the subject property as a ‘party house,’ causing frequent and reoccurring disturbances to neighbors,” the lawsuit stated. “The landlord has not taken any action to cease tenant’s disruptive parties and, on information and belief, has actually encouraged such use.”
Court records show Krause purchased the property for $6.5 million in 2020 while The Nightfall Group was identified as the agent for the property and identified Scott Weissman as the tenant.
According to the lawsuit, the City of Miami Beach is seeking a temporary and permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from “maintaining a public nuisance” on the property together with court costs.
Prosecutors said the defendants were accused in the suit of operating an illegal short-term rental business with rates up to $7,650 per night.
“Since Feb. 8, 2022, the landlord and/or tenant have been cited with at least 45 violations total of the City Code based on activities at the subject property and have incurred substantial fines in connection with many of these violations,” the lawsuit stated.
According to court documents, Weissman has had a rent obligation of $616,000 under a seven-month lease that began in November 2022.
The property has been listed by various names in short-term rental advertisements, including Villa Bay, The Bay Villa and Villa Valena, court records stated.
“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 said.
According to officials, the city also plans to amend its lawsuit to foreclose on liens on the property arising out of the unpaid fines. They said they will seek to have the home sold at auction if the fines remain unpaid.
Read the lawsuit below.