The Strata Community Association says it is receiving a surge of reports about short-term rental apartments in the Adelaide CBD being used as “pop‑up brothels” and theft hubs.

SCA spokesperson Nathan Patterson said that the “prostitution rings” are increasingly making use of short-term accommodation in Adelaide to avoid detection.

“One was using a prominent apartment building in Adelaide’s CBD and forced the fire escape doors open so customers could enter the rear.”

Pop‑up brothels are known to move between short‑stay apartments every few days to avoid detection, often using online escort ads and messaging apps to advertise their location.

In another incident, Mr Patterson said there was a Nigerian gang that hired out short‑stay accommodation units to gain building access to long‑term residents within the building and then rob them.

It comes amid a state parliament inquiry into the short‑stay accommodation, sector led by SA Greens MLC Rob Simms.

With more than 8000 properties used for short‑stay accommodation across the state, there are growing concerns about the impact of the sector on housing affordability and on life for long-term residents in buildings they share with short stays. Many of the 147 submissions the inquiry has received since it began in February are from long-term residents who are next to short stay apartments.

In one submission, an Adelaide apartment resident described an incident involving short stay guests in June where seven people were fighting in the foyer and on the 15th floor, where three people were stabbed with a machete and one left in a critical condition.

The resident said some guests checked in with “no ID and no person‑to‑person contact,” meaning owners and other residents do not know who is in the building nightly, and that by-laws are constantly broken without owners taking responsibility.

An Adelaide Hills resident wrote in his submission that short‑stay rentals resulted in “noise, chaos, cars and on-street parking.”

The properties mentioned by the Strata Community Association were not owned by Airbnb, which says that since implementing a global ban on parties in their properties in July 2022, noise complaints have significantly reduced.

Several stakeholders – including Airbnb, the Strata Community Association (SA‑NT), the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA), Uniting Communities, Hamish Redden, and Stayz – have called for the introduction of a mandatory statewide registration scheme for all short‑stay accommodation (SSA) properties.

Airbnb suggests that any registration system should be linked to a formal code of conduct to clearly set expectations for hosts, guests, and the broader community.

However, Airbnb says in its submission it is opposed to caps on availability and increased levies. The select committee on the short stay accommodation sector is expected to hand down recommendations later this year.