Iowa City is approaching wild house parties differently with the introduction of a new ordinance.
According to loansafe.org, Iowa City voted Tuesday night on an ordinance amending the nuisance rental property regulations allowing a better way to deal with people who throw loud parties and try to avoid the police.
The ordinance will allow a civil citation to be given to house occupants of rental properties that do not answer the door when police come to the scene.
This ordinance is made because more and more rental property occupants are refusing to open the doors for officers when they come to homes on noise complaints during wild parties. Technically, the occupants don't have to open the door if officers don't have the proper warrant, which takes a couple of hours to get.
The only thing that is done as a result of a disorderly house complaint is that a letter is sent to the residents and the landlord upon the first complaint. Upon the second, a meeting is scheduled.
According to loansafe.org, Iowa City voted Tuesday night on an ordinance amending the nuisance rental property regulations allowing a better way to deal with people who throw loud parties and try to avoid the police.
The ordinance will allow a civil citation to be given to house occupants of rental properties that do not answer the door when police come to the scene.
This ordinance is made because more and more rental property occupants are refusing to open the doors for officers when they come to homes on noise complaints during wild parties. Technically, the occupants don't have to open the door if officers don't have the proper warrant, which takes a couple of hours to get.
The only thing that is done as a result of a disorderly house complaint is that a letter is sent to the residents and the landlord upon the first complaint. Upon the second, a meeting is scheduled.
The ordinance sets out to change the way things are working. A police officer would be able to notify housing inspectors of a disorderly house if the door is not answered, and there could potentially be a citation for all of the tenants. This is meant to solve the problem of people simply not answering the door to police.
Feelings about the ordinance are mixed, though. Some people believe that the citation is unfair to the tenants who may not have been at the party when the police were there. They may be able to appear in court and get out of the citation on their own behalf.
The civil citation allowed could be up to $750 for a first offense and $1,000 for any after that.
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