Loud AirBnb parties, ‘obnoxious’ guests reducing Healesville residents to tears
Unruly AirBnb guests are outstaying their welcome in sleepy Healesville, with neighbours driven crazy by late-night noise, illegally-parked cars and drunks urinating in their driveways.
Outer East
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Unruly AirBnb guests are outstaying their welcome in Healesville, with neighbours fed up with late-night noise, cars parked across their driveways and their gardens being used as toilets by drunks.
Craig Bruce, who has lived on Newgrove Rd for 26 years, said “loud and obnoxious” people partying at one nearby short-stay rental had been distressing his family for six months.
“We’ve all been suffering in silence,” he said.
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He said noisy gatherings on the property’s veranda during the night had forced his daughter to move out of her bedroom.
But the incident that “really, really upset” him happened on March 23 when he arrived home with his wife and daughter to a man with his pants down, urinating on their driveway.
Mr Bruce has contacted the owner of the house many times, as well as Yarra Ranges Council and AirBnb, and has even posted flyers around the street stating ‘AirBnbs aren’t welcome here’, but the problems continue.
“You feel quite emasculated,” he said. “This is my home.”
It’s believed two properties next to each other are being used as AirBnb guesthouses, with a third one opposite.
Another Newgrove Rd resident, who did not want to be named, said she woke up at 2am on a recent Monday to the sound of screeching tyres, before a fight broke out on her neighbour’s balcony with the guests screaming and smashing glass.
“We’re left here feeling quite vulnerable,” she said. “We’re just in disbelief.
“This is ridiculous.”
She said because the property was being managed remotely, guests brought speakers and dozens of people to the house, which was advertised to sleep eight and only had space for two cars.
She said she had “been in tears” trying to get something done about guests’ behaviour, which had been an issue for two and a half years.
“I’ve spoken to police many times.”
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She said other people left the area to escape the nuisance some weekends.
A woman living in a more rural part of Healesville told Leader an AirBnb had completely changed her street, which was previously just used by residents.
She said she was one of the parents who had stopped letting her children walk to the bus or ride their bikes along the dirt road because the AirBnb had made them feel it was “too dangerous”.
The mother said parents didn’t know who was around anymore, and had seen drunk men urinating in the street in the middle of the day.
She said she had also noticed an increase in speeding on the road, while noisy parties kept residents awake all night and bothered them all day.
“The last party they had started at 7 in the morning.”
She said the issue had been going on since she was made “livid” by guests’ noise at 2am when she was in labour with her child who is now 16 months old.
Council director of social and economic development James Collins said the council was reviewing its local laws and short-term rentals, specifically issues relating to carparking and noise, had been raised many times throughout the consultation.
“Council will be exploring the best way to tackle these issues,” he said.
Mr Collins said officers had been regularly patrolling Healesville to ensure people weren’t parking illegally.
Police were contacted for comment.