Mornington Peninsula Shire to write law to punish owners of short-term ‘party houses’
MUSIC blaring from Airbnb “party houses” on the Mornington Peninsula could be a thing of the past, with a council set to crack down on troublemakers who wreak havoc on their neighbours.
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MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is considering its own local law to fight dodgy “party houses”, in what is believed to be a first for Victoria.
The shire says it has had enough of poor behaviour from some short-term accommodation guests who wreak havoc on their neighbours.
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There have been 87 complaints since November 2016, with concerns including overcrowding, loud music, bad language, yelling, rubbish and parking problems.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, councillor David Gill said they were going to go “full throttle” on solving the problem, including fining property owners.
“These people are abusing their neighbours (and) we need to look for a way to stop this,” Cr Gill said.
“We must go as far as we can to eradicate this behaviour; we are not going to put up with this any more.
“We are looking at the owner of the property, that’s the only way we can get decisive action.”
There are 24,000 holiday homes on the Mornington Peninsula, with about 3000 being used as short-stay rental properties advertised online.
The shire is also trying to fight dodgy behaviour through existing laws designed to combat noise nuisance.
It has had one recent win — just last month a prohibition notice was issued to one property owner and it was removed from listings.
In another case they identified owners promoting accommodation for 30 people in a five-bedroom house, warning them they risked violating planning laws.
Rye man Howard Dare, who fought his own battle against a party house in his street, said it was a major problem and he welcomed the shire getting on the front foot.
Stayz corporate and government affairs director Jordan Condo said they were happy to work with the shire “to ensure fit-for-purpose regulation for short-term rental accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula”.
An Airbnb Australia statement said they “had no tolerance for this type of behaviour and will remove listings that fail to uphold our commitment to being a good neighbour”.
As well as providing a report on how a local law could work, shire officers are also planning a forum involving accommodation providers, the police and tourism representatives.
