Neighbours say wild Airbnb house is spoiling their peaceful Wantirna court
Neighbours living in a once-peaceful and family friendly Wantirna court say a wild Airbnb house, where rooms are rented out individually, is making daily life unbearable.
Outer East
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Neighbours living in a once-peaceful and family friendly Wantirna court say a wild Airbnb house, where rooms are rented out individually, is making daily life unbearable.
They say Blackfriars Close is now marred by overflowing rubbish, drunk partygoers coming and going at all hours, and badly-behaved guests at the short-stay residence.
Neighbours say they have now been forced to beef up security and ban children from playing outside.
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Mum-of-two Natalie Mitchell said residents discovered the four-bedroom house was being used as an Airbnb in June, with individual rooms rented out for just $25 a night.
“Can you imagine the calibre of people that have been coming into our court?” she said.
“It started off with overflowing rubbish, multiple cars, people coming and going at all hours of the night or early morning, and then we had a few more sinister things happen.”
She said one of the short-stay tenants allegedly stabbed a taxi driver during an attempted robbery.
Ms Mitchell said she understood a truck was also stolen from an adjacent street, rubbish was dumped in a neighbour’s yard, and another neighbour reported a peeping Tom spying on her in a bathroom.
“We don’t want this, our kids don’t feel safe playing in the court,” Ms Mitchell said.
“Enough is enough.”
Ms Mitchell said the Airbnb landlord said he would try and prevent more problems by screening guests.
Neighbours have also taken their woes to Knox Council, Consumer Affairs Victoria and local politicians.
Ms Mitchell wants the short-stay house shut down.
“Safety is my main concern — it looks like it’s bringing crime to our area,” Ms Mitchell said.
“We’d love to see the laws changed in Victoria so residents get more of a say about what happens in their streets.”
Neighbour Michael Van Zyl, a dad-of-two, said he had erected a fence and installed CCTV cameras after becoming concerned for his family’s safety when the Airbnb opened.
He said he had seen people sitting in cars watching his wife and children.
“There are certainly safety concerns,” Mr Van Zyl said.
“We would have liked to have had a say before an Airbnb opened up right next door to us in what is meant to be a family-friendly environment.”
The owner of the Airbnb told Knox Leader via email he had discussed neighbours concerns and found there were no issues.
Knox Council Mayor Jake Keogh said council was investigating concerns regarding the Airbnb but due to privacy reasons was unable to provide details.
Cr Keogh said council local laws did not contain any provisions relating to Airbnb, but it could be considered in future reviews.
Consumer Affairs Victoria spokesman Ben Radisich said it had no jurisdiction to regulate the use of private stand-alone houses as short-stay accommodation.
He said anyone with concerns should contact police.
Airbnb spokesman Julian Crowley said the company has an online ‘Neighbour Tool’, which allowed people to share specific concerns about a listing.
He said Airbnb strongly supported tough new laws to target extremely rare instances of bad behaviour.
The Owners Corporations Amendment (Short-Stay Accommodation) Act 2018 was passed by the Victorian parliament in August.
The Act protects residents in high-rise apartment buildings from unruly short- stay parties.
The use of stand-alone houses for short-stay accommodation is a matter that has been considered by local councils.
Knox police Sergeant Brett Bodey urged residents to phone 000 to report any suspicious behaviour.
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