Nuisance closure

Definition

In some states, the order that shuts a property for up to a year when drug or prostitution crimes recur.

Why It Matters

A cheap room book carries the record of what happened in its rooms, and some states let a public body close the building for it. Florida lets a county or city board declare a property a public nuisance once it has been the site of drug sales, or of prostitution, more than twice in six months. The board may close the property or any part of it, and its order runs up to a year. A local ordinance may add fines of up to $250 a day, renew the order a year at a time until the activity stops, and record it so a later buyer takes notice. Texas reaches a place people habitually go for listed crimes when whoever maintains it knowingly tolerates them and makes no reasonable attempt to stop them. A suit may run against the place itself, and a judgment there closes it for a year. Frequent crime is prima facie evidence of tolerance, though the owner's own calls to the police cannot be used to show it. Ask for the police call and arrest history, and search the county records for a nuisance order.