A City Council meeting was informed that some residents of the Adelaide CBD have had to live in the face of abuse, threats of violence, and destruction.
City resident Phillip De Bondi said that a lodging company was renting out a number of townhouses close to him to transient visitors who ought to be staying in hotels or event spaces.
Permanent residents felt insecure living in their immediate neighborhood because of drug use, rowdy parties, trespassing, and antisocial behavior, Mr. De Bondi said at the most recent council meeting.
“People have banged on our walls, peed on the walls, and broken into our garage area. “One individual leaped up onto our balcony,” he remarked.
This was a frequent occurrence during my tenure. Usually, these visitors are paid in cash.”
According to the former worker, staff members were encouraged to threaten short-term tenants with a free night’s accommodation or free wine if they did not publish positive evaluations on the internet.
Some locals brought up problems that they stated went back to 2008 and that they had reported them to the police.
According to Mr. De Bondi, young guys who stayed on weekends and used the rentals rather than making reservations for hotels or function spaces were the worst offenders.
The owners of the apartments have leased them to the short-term rental operator, who subsequently makes them available for brief visits.
According to a municipal council official, the company lacked development approval for short-term lodging, and the council was working to rectify that.
The company’s director stated that well-behaved guests were anticipated.
“Our operations and night manager have meetings to discuss our process and we feel it meets guidelines of a serviced apartment accommodation business,” he stated in a statement.
The council intends to do a thorough analysis of the effects of transient lodging in the CBD.
Councilwoman Priscilla Corbell stated that more restrictions might be implemented in the near future.
Right now, it’s mainly unregulated. That implies that there may not always be a mechanism to deal with those problems when they arise for locals,” the speaker stated.
According to Ms. Corbell, the council recognized the necessity for some basic regulation of the lodging-share industry but did not want to go beyond.
An increase in short-term rentals, according to Chris Boundy of the Legal Services Commission, raised several concerns.
“Short-term rentals are becoming increasingly popular and leading to rising numbers of disputes,” he stated.
