The answer is to gather your evidence and apply to your local District Court for Noise Abatement orders against the landlord. You would normally apply for orders against the tenants but since they are transient and likely to change, it may be more effective to take action against the landlord.
The principle underpinning this is that the landlord has the capacity to limit the noise, under the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act, and they have been made aware of the disturbance but have chosen not to act.
A Noise Abatement Order means that if there is any repetition of the disturbance, the subject of the order is in breach of a court order which is a criminal offence and they can be arrested and fined.
You should get together with other affected neighbours to share the costs of legal advice. This may seem like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut but people have to be held accountable for their actions and this landlord is happyto take the rent but let you deal with the consequences of their “hands-off” approach to their tenants.
Evidence such as police reports and responses from council will be invaluable in building your case so gather everything together and find a lawyer who will run this for you. Our sponsors might be a good place to start.
The precedent for making landlords responsible for the disturbances of their tenants was set in a case heard by Magistrate Grahame on February 22, 2011 in the Downing Centre Local Court.
The case was No 63913/11 – Whitlam Vs Hannah and was an application for a noise abatement 20 order pursuant to s 268.4 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act of 1997. It stated that an order can be made under s 268 of the Act, if the Local Court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the alleged offensive noise exists.
NB: This was nothing to do with strata law which, frankly, had failed the owners (as it so often does).