- Residents fighting for seven years to have house shut down
- Strippers at 10am, vomit in garden beds
- Houses advertised on Stayz
MERMAID Waters residents have declared war on local party houses, where naked men and women, vomiting and loud music are becoming a weekly occurrence.
The residents, who have been fighting for the past seven years to have the houses shut down, say they are at the end of their tether, sick of being forced to endure vile behaviour most weekends from strangers.
One woman, who does not want to be named for fear of retribution from the party house owners, took photographs and video footage of a buck's party recently during which naked and near-naked women paraded on the balcony in full view of neighbours.
Flick through the images on the right.
She had to cancel her 12-year-old son's play date, so bad was the behaviour of guests at the house over the canal from her home.
Male party guests swam in the canal naked and some vomited in the garden beds of the rental home.
"My son had someone coming over to play and I had to ring the mother and say, 'It's not appropriate to have teenage boys around that," the woman said.
"My neighbours and I regularly have to keep our kids inside all weekend because we're worried what they might see and hear.
"We moved here 13 years ago because we wanted to ensure our family was raised in a community environment where people knew their neighbours and had a sense of responsibility to these neighbours.
"We chose to move to a Residential A area because it meant there were no units or duplexes and we believed this usage was for permanent residents."
But in 2007 the first so-called party house opened and was quickly followed by another three. All four houses are advertised on Stayz and residents say they often watch removal trucks arrive ahead of the weekend to deliver more beds and furniture for the weekend guests.
Another Mermaid Waters resident said two weeks ago she watched a group of men arrive in their luxury European cars on Friday afternoon and unload large coolers of alcohol.
Friday night was loud but not too bad -- they were saving themselves for the buck's party festivities which kicked off at 9am Saturday.
"By 10am the strippers were there, by 11am they had the strip shows happening," she said.
"There were two lots of girls; one group wore skimpy bikinis and the others were completely naked.
"We called the police but by the time they got there the girls were fully dressed -- well, they had their bikinis on -- so the police could do nothing but ask them to keep the noise down.
"There were guys spewing in the back canal, a couple took all their gear off and swam completely naked.
"Then they started with the intimidating behaviour. What would their wives and girlfriends do if they could see how they behaved in our back yard?
"We've had to put up with buck's parties, schoolies' parties, birthday parties -- it's completely out of hand.
"One party went from Christmas Eve through to December 27 -- completely outrageous behaviour until 2 and 3am. Council says that these houses are self-regulated -- that's absolute garbage.
"The owner of the house says 'I'm going to come and kick them out' but of course he doesn't, he's making too much money from it."
The resident said an elderly neighbour in the area invested $11,000 in a security system for her home because she was so worried by the constant parties.
She said it was not uncommon for party guests to wolf-whistle at her teenage daughter and her friends if they dared to venture out into their back garden.
Residents also complained of other guests trespassing on neighbouring properties and placing excess rubbish in residents' bins.
State MP for Mermaid Beach, Ray Stevens, says he is sick of fielding complaints from distraught residents about party houses and will use a meeting with the city council on Friday to call for an end to the buck-passing.
Mr Stevens will meet council CEO Dale Dickson, Division 12 Councillor Greg Betts, council planning bureaucrats and the new State Assistant Planning Minister, Rob Molhoek.
Mr Stevens -- a former Albert Shire mayor -- said if the council needed changes to the State Planning Act to allow it to shut down party houses, he would make it happen.
"I rang (Gold Coast Mayor) Tom Tate and said: 'This is ridiculous. We need an answer to this problem'," he said. "I rang the council CEO direct and said: 'I'm over it'.
"On Friday, the new Assistant Planning Minister, Rob Molhoek, and myself will meet with the CEO and planning officers.
"Whatever they want in legislation we will put it in. Whatever they want from the State Government we'll put in the legislation so they can enact the council planning codes.
"I have never seen the council so reluctant to do something and these residents are suffering badly."
Mr Stevens said the party-house use seemed to have been allowed through a "back door".
He said traditional short-term holiday providers in motels and apartment buildings had to comply with strict planning laws which required, among other things, fire plans and disabled access facilities.
"It's clearly a town-planning matter. These people are running businesses -- short-term accommodation -- in residential areas and if it was any other business, crocheting, any other home occupation, you would have to apply to council for approval," Mr Stevens said.
He said he had advice that under planning laws the council could act to stop "party houses" but the council's advisers apparently did not agree.
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