WHILE Friday marks the end of the working week for most, for one Mandurah couple it marks the beginning of a weekend with the ever-changing neighbours from hell.
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Stephen Jorgensen and his wife Robyn spend their weekends at their canal-front home just two metres from loud and at times, unruly parties.
The home's owner has been renting the house out to holiday makers.
It is so bad the couple now refer to the property’s online booking website in order to plan their lives around the holiday home's occupants.
“When short-term tenants turn up the first thing they do is unpack, and fill up the biggest eskies I’ve ever seen,” Mr Jorgensen said.
“Then the aim is to get as drunk as possible, as quickly as possible.
“I have seen participants in this alcohol-fuelled circus stand on the back of their boats and urinate into the canals.
“Loud music, loud voices, shouting and swearing are normal.”
The Jorgensens are urging the council to restrict rental periods along the canals to a minimum of three months due to their close proximity to each other saying enough is enough.
Mr Jorgensen believes putting a restriction on the rental time will avoid people taking advantage of the area.
“Each group is only here for a couple of days so their aim is to party hard and show zero respect for the privacy or property of any permanent residents next to them,” Mr Jorgensen said.
“Then the next group arrives and we have to endure this disgraceful behaviour all over again.”
A City of Mandurah spokesperson told the Mandurah Mail recently that the council was currently discussing ways to address issues around holiday homes in the interim period before a new planning scheme was implemented.
In reply to a call for a holiday home registry by a Silver Sands resident, the spokesperson said a holiday home register could be looked at as a suitable temporary approach.
While a party house registry has been suggested as a solution by other residents, Mr Jorgensen said it wouldn’t necessarily work.
A second short-term rental property close to Mr Jorgensen's has a landlord who lives in Canada, so due to the time difference and distance they could not be contacted in the event of a noisy party.
“How do you phone the absentee landlords if their guests are playing up when a lot of them live overseas and couldn’t care less?” Mr Jorgensen said.
