Mount Martha house turned into Airbnb without owners’ permission
It’s the luxury Mornington Peninsular pad at the centre of a dispute between the tenants using it to rake in the cash to support their glam lifestyle and the owners left in the dark.
Tenants caught pimping out a high end Mornington Peninsula rental for $8000 a week are fighting an order to leave, saying they need to stay in the exclusive street so they can ride their jet skis.
The brazen renters were ordered to move on by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) after being busted advertising the luxury Mount Martha house online without permission from the property owners or a council permit.
Michael Atwell and Nadia Armstrong were first told to move on in May after irate neighbours dobbed them in to property owners Rosemary Scully and Ian Rolland.
Instead, they applied to VCAT for permission to sublet the Kilburn Grove property.
The pair also sought more than $7000 in compensation for financial loss and emotional distress and wanted potential relocation costs of about $6000 covered by the property owners.
Tribunal acting deputy president Kylea Campana knocked back the application to sublet and rejected the compensation claims.
She gave Mr Atwell and Ms Armstrong until Tuesday to vacate the property and warned if they didn’t leave they could be forcibly removed by police and even face up to five years jail.
When the Herald Sun visited the property on Wednesday it was still occupied.
A man at the house said the VCAT decision was being appealed in the Supreme Court.
The saga began in March when Mr Atwell and Ms Armstrong secured the property for $5193 a month until January 31, 2027.
They paid a bond of $7170 and moved in.
Residents in the sought after tree-lined street say within weeks listings for the “South Beach Beauty” appeared online.
“There were some noisy parties and lots of cars parked on the nature strip,” one resident told the Herald Sun.
Worried neighbours alerted Ms Scully and Mr Rolland, and by Easter the jig was well and truly up after police were called to a “heated dispute” between Mr Atwell and a large group of holiday makers who wanted to use the property.
According to court documents the pair were in breach of their rental agreement.
A notice to vacate was issued and an application for possession made to the Tribunal.
Mr Atwell and Ms Armstrong responded with their own application seeking permission to sublet the property.
They argued it was “unreasonable” to refuse their request and doing so would impact their “successful short stay history” and their “established connection with the community”.
It could also hinder their ability to secure future accommodation and cause “significant disruption”.
They explained they needed to stay in the beachside suburb so they could continue riding their jet skis and go spear fishing.
The pair told the tribunal they needed the income generated through short stay accommodation because Mr Atwell’s importing business had collapsed.
They also argued that they had previously used another property, leased through the same real estate agency, as an Airbnb and had received all of their bond back.
The tribunal heard neither the real estate agency nor the owners of the previous rental were aware the property was being sublet.
Ms Campana revealed Mr Atwell had a “chequered history with rental agreements and subletting”.
“Mr Atwell and the tribunal are old acquaintances – a fact he himself acknowledged having been before me in multiple hearings relating to the non-payment of rent as a renter engaging in the business of subletting,” Ms Campana said.
“These involved applications for possession and claims for the bond.”
Ms Campana was also concerned about the renters’ failure to secure a council permit to use the Kilburn Grove property for short stay accommodation.
“I cannot turn a blind eye to the renters also flouting local bylaws,” she said.
Mornington Peninsula mayor Anthony Marsh said he was shocked when the property owners told him what was happening at their house.
“They rang from overseas, really distressed,” Mr Marsh said.
He said while the council had “great empathy” for the family’s plight, it was a civil matter.
However, Mr Marsh said the council would now explore potential changes to its short stay accommodation local law to prevent similar problems in future.
Short stay accommodation providers on the Mornington Peninsula must register their property with the council and follow strict regulations.
The rules include notifying immediate neighbours and providing a phone number where they can be reached 24/7 in case of trouble.