Call for tighter industry regulations on short-stay accommodation Airbnb, Stayz

Residents fed up with violent and drug-affected guests at short-stay properties are pushing for tighter industry regulations.

Violent and drug-affected guests at short stay properties who throw wild parties are pushing residents to breaking point.

Violent and drug-affected guests at short-stay properties who throw out-of-control parties that “put people’s lives at risk” are pushing residents to breaking point.

Neighbours living near rental properties in short-stay hot spots, including Melbourne’s CBD, Docklands, St Kilda and Prahran, fear hosts are not being held to account for many guests’ rowdy, and at times deadly, behaviour.

They are demanding the Andrews government tighten controls on the sector by rolling out a statewide exclusion register in Victoria after NSW established a similar list and a code of conduct for hosts and guests in 2020.

Last month, a 22-year-old Kings Park man died at a party held in a Flinders St short-stay apartment.

In March 2021, a group of teens allegedly stabbed six revellers at a party held at a CBD rental apartment.

Laa Chol died after an early morning fight broke out in a short-stay apartment.

Ramis Jonuzi was allegedly killed by a short-stay host.

Docklands resident Barbara Francis said recent police incidents in her apartment building and other high-rise towers, coupled with unreasonable noise, were reminiscent of other short-stay tragedies in recent years.

“We’ve had the deaths that have gone on and people are still allowed to party,” she said.

A St Kilda resident, who wished not to be named, said he often felt unsafe in his home when guests checked into neighbouring short-stays due to guests yelling, engaging in drug use and discarding bottles of alcohol.

“People have the right in their own home to sleep and feel safe,” he said.

“We just want this industry regulated like any business and hotel.”

Residents in popular seaside and regional holiday destinations such as the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley have also reportedly been plagued by anti-social guests.

One woman who lives in Sorrento, a tourism and schoolies hotspot, said she was forced to call the police on a large group of young men who appeared to be urinating off the roof of a house.

“They were dancing on the roof and were even weeing off the roof. I ended up calling triple-0 to say that their lives were in danger because they were blind (drunk) up there,” she said.

A Victoria Police spokesman said officers did not tolerate illegal or destructive behaviour at short-stay properties.

Police regularly scan listings across the state to detect potentially “high-risk” bookings and prevent crimes and anti-social behaviour, but did not record the number of times officers are called to short-term properties.

Laws introduced in 2019 imposed a three-strike rule on apartments, which gave VCAT the power to ban them from hosting guests for a period of time, as well as fines for hosts and compensation for affected residents of up to $2000.

Figures provided to the Herald Sun from VCAT show that 50 short-stay accommodation disputes have been heard since 2019, but no action brought against a host by a complainant has been successful.

A government spokeswoman said the impacts of the law changes on the sector would continue to be monitored.