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'Quiet' street trashed after 300 turn up to party at rental

Author
Megan Harvey, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 18 Sep 2019, 7:08PM
300 people turned up and trashed the street and the reserve behind the properties, and smashed the windows of cars parked along the street. (Photo / Facebook)
300 people turned up and trashed the street and the reserve behind the properties, and smashed the windows of cars parked along the street. (Photo / Facebook)

'Quiet' street trashed after 300 turn up to party at rental

Author
Megan Harvey, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 18 Sep 2019, 7:08PM

Mount Albert residents who live down a "quiet, family orientated" street are fed up with a property rental company who has started "renting out a house on weekends for parties".

Distraught neighbours that live on Phyllis St has told the Herald how the rental has held a fortnight of parties which escalated to two parties being out of control over the weekend that saw police called and neighbours left facing a hefty damages bill.

Police shut down two parties last Friday and Saturday night after 300 people turned up and trashed the street and the reserve behind the properties, and smashed the windows of cars parked along the street, according to neighbours.

New Zealand company ARent, who has two rentals down Phyllis St, rented out the property that weekend on Booking.com with two separate bookings.

ARent has come under fire from angry residents who want damages paid for their smashed up vehicles, however, the company said that they too were a "victim" as their property was extensively damaged from partygoers.

One neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said he was out Friday night with his wife when they arrived home around midnight to police along the street.

He said his neighbours had called noise control and police about a massive party that was happening in one of the rentals on Phyllis St.

"There were a lot [of partygoers] in the house, they were all over the street, just walking around drinking and being extremely loud," he said.

"Police were there interviewing [neighbours], but I didn't think much of it. I just went to bed."

However, it was the next morning that he had found out his cars had been damaged by partygoers in "retaliation" for police shutting down the party.

"At around 6am my neighbour knocked on my door, saying 'hey man you need to come out, police are outside and you guys need to see this' the neighbour recalled.

"[The partygoers] smashed my wife's car window. Made a mess inside. They damaged the wing mirror of my car and they went down the street and smashed everyone's cars."

He also mentioned when police were taken his details, party patrons nearby gave them the finger and swore at them.

"There was a bunch of these young people just a couple houses down, which is where they were based, going 'f*** you'."

The Mt Albert resident said another out of control party happened on Saturday night and that he didn't feel safe as partygoers were aggressive and making a commotion.

"There were hundreds of people here and I locked my doors ... what if these guys decided they're going to break into the house as well," he said.

"The same thing happened as last night. They were throwing bottles out at the reserve behind their houses ... extremely aggressive towards anyone who approached them and asked them to keep it down ... you don't see that kind of stuff happening in New Zealand."

He said police arrived at the scene at 2am after several calls to noise control and police were made by neighbours.

A single mother with five children, Yasmine Huch, who lives two doors down from the rental also recalled what happened over the weekend.

On Friday night, Huch who had her friend over at the time said that some party patrons had trespassed on her property and were hiding out in her carport.

"We could hear them coughing and tipping their drinks right outside my window."

She also said that other "rowdy" partygoers were drinking at a park next door to her house.

"[They had] loud as music and were screaming their heads off, throwing bottles and smashing things," she said.

"I called police on Saturday night because my kids were waking up throughout the night just crying, it was just stressing me out. I really felt like going out there myself and pulling out their radio."

The single mother said the "family-orientated" community that has lots of kids living on the street has never had issues like this since she has lived there for almost two years.

On Monday, the ARent owner and landlord arrived at the property with cleaners, the first resident revealed.

"The house was trashed, there was rubbish everywhere, outside in the street. They also left a bunch of rubbish in front of my house," the neighbour said.

He recalled neighbours surrounding the homeowner, asking "are you going to keep doing this?". But the owner claimed to him he didn't know what was going on.

"I just want these people to be held liable because it's their private property. They tried to make money out of it, but we can't have that happening every time he decides to rent out the place," the neighbour said.

"There needs to be terms and conditions for the people who are renting. The people need a legitimate reason to stay, not to throw a party."

However, ARent's owner said a normal booking was made through Booking.com and that they were not expecting a massive party of people to turn up.

He said once he found out about the party he reported it to police.

"From our point of view, if we find something is out our of control and Booking.com's control, where a small normal booking is made, that is all we can do," he said.

"We haven't done anything wrong. Simply we are a victim."

He said quite a lot of damage was done to the property, including damage to all the furniture and windows.

"Everyone is angry and it has made a huge impact [on the community] ... it's not right," he said.

ARent's owner confirmed that two different bookings were made by separate bookers on those nights and that the company does not know if the parties were related to each other.

Booking.com said in a statement that it is a very rare and unfortunate instance that a customer engages in unlawful behaviour at a property they have booked on their site.

Booking.com told the Herald in a statement that it is a rare and unfortunate instance that a customer engages in unlawful behaviour at a property they have booked on their website.

"We encourage our partners to reach out to local authorities and make an official complaint.

"We support our accommodation partners fully and will co-operate with law enforcement in their official investigation, also taking additional precautions to block future reservations from the customer via our platform, as necessary."

The Herald has contacted police for comment.

 

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