07/12/2018
What Is a Nuisance Property
A nuisance residential or commercial property creates serious problems for the surrounding community and headaches for the officials who must deal with it. If left unchecked, these blighted properties become a massive drain on the time and resources of cities and counties and adversely impact communities and homeowners by attracting criminal activity and thereby decreasing surrounding home values.
A nuisance is often defined as an interference with the right to use and enjoy real property. Many types of activities may be termed nuisances, especially ones that cause the following:
• Noise
• Odors
• Dust and smoke
• Pollution of air or water
• Bugs, rodents, and other pests
• Explosions and other vibrations
• Illness
• Crime
• Light
According to the Enterprise Foundation, a national, nonprofit housing and community development organization, there are two types of property-based nuisances in America’s cities today.
1. Physical: These include violations of local building, housing, health, or sanitation codes and
are often described as eyesores, health hazards, or blighted property. At the simplest level, such nuisances are often the result of the owner’s lack of maintenance combined with the
property users’ irresponsible behavior — whether they are owner-occupants, tenants, or visitors.
2. Behavioral: These generally include violations of criminal law. Descriptions range from the merely bad neighbors up to the drug house, gang house, or shooting gallery. Such nuisances are typically the result of the criminal behavior of a few and the enabling behavior of many who permit the problem to continue.
These types of nuisances often perpetuate a vicious cycle and where one is, another is close to follow.
Overgrown lots and garbage-strewn yards can attract drug activity, prostitution, or illegal gang behavior. Criminal behavior can lead directly to specific physical nuisances such as house disrepair and yard maintenance eye-sores.
As the behavior continues, neighborhood property values often decline and responsible homeowners are more apt to leave while potential homeowners are likely to look elsewhere.
One bad apple home can have a far reaching and wide negative effects on a community’s economic well-being on the whole.
