Adelaide CBD townhouse residents say short-term renters are making their lives a misery

RESIDENTS of a CBD townhouse block say they are living in hell, claiming guests staying in short-term accommodation in the same complex are running amok every weekend.

RESIDENTS of a CBD townhouse block say they are living in hell, claiming guests staying in short-term accommodation in the same complex are running amok.

Resident Phil De Bondi made a desperate plea for help at an Adelaide City Council meeting on Tuesday night, saying intruders had broken into his garage and urinated on the walls.

Mr De Bondi lives in a court of 10 townhouses near Wakefield St.

Four of the properties are marketed as “short-term budget accommodation” and leased out for stays by RnR Serviced Apartments Adelaide.

Choking back tears, he alleged an unknown person had “threatened to rape” his wife, who he said was being “racially abused” on a weekly basis.

A father, Mr De Bondi said he feared the problems will get worse as the CBD population grows.

“We love the CBD, we thought it would be a great place to raise our family,” he told the meeting.

“But right now it doesn’t feel liveable to me or the residents in my group.

“I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel comfortable in my own home, I’m embarrassed of where I live and can’t invite friends over on the weekends.”

He said on weekends, guests in neighbouring townhouses regularly held rowdy parties.

“I have started to log the incidents from June and there’s been an incident every single weekend,” he said.

Mr De Bondi claimed the disruption caused by guests has been ignored by the accommodation provider.

The Advertiser has contacted RnR Serviced Apartments for a response.

“Some of my neighbours have been trying to complain for over 10 years and have just given up,” Mr De Bondi said.

“It’s difficult to sleep and that ends up impacting on my ability to go to work,” he said.

Mr De Bondi said he has asked guests on multiple occasions to turn the music down but because they’ve spent money, they treat it as if it’s a hotel and have told him “it’s the city, if you don’t like it get out”.

“Up until this point no one has been willing to help,” Mr De Bondi said.

“Not Adelaide City Council on first contact, not the State Government, not my Federal Member, not SA Police.”

He’s now calling for regulations, especially around unsupervised short-stays, to stop the weekly trouble he and other residents face.

“I think there needs to be some legislation around them being supervised, that they would have to provide on-site management,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s the responsibility of residents like myself to have to monitor their guests behaviour.”

At the meeting, councillors supported a motion by councillor Priscilla Corbell for the administration to prepare a report into the breadth of Adelaide’s sharing economy, the regulations available to local and state government, and the immediate steps that can be taken to reduce the negative impact on residential amenity.