Neighbours of an Auckland house used for short term rentals that spiralled out of control during a party have described swarms of screaming and bloody teens spilling out onto the street.
The neighbours say the situation is not new, with two properties on the street having a track record of destructive parties in recent years.
Dozens of police officers, ambulance staff and firefighters rushed to the incident last night, which spread across a number of streets in Mt Albert, with up to 100 people gathered.
Six young people were injured, amid reports of machetes, vicious assaults and a car being driven at partygoers.
Some neighbours of the property on Phyllis St had small children, and one home was treated as a refuge for someone who was allegedly stabbed.
This afternoon, only a few beer bottles remained scattered along the road and outside the house.
The Herald was invited inside the property, which had a broken-down door and a backyard full of rubbish and wine bottles.
Late last night, five people were taken to Auckland City Hospital, two in a serious condition and three in a moderate condition, a Hato Hone St John spokesperson said.
A sixth person “in a minor condition” was treated at the scene.
Senior Sergeant John Nicol said police received multiple calls about a large disorder event involving young people on Phyllis St about 9.50 pm.
“Early information suggests that a vehicle was driven toward a group of partygoers, injuring two people.
“During the wider disorder, at least two additional individuals also sustained moderate injuries. Police are continuing to investigate and work to establish exactly what occurred,” Nicol said.
Several neighbours told the Herald the street became filled with drunk “kids” screaming, crying and throwing bottles.
Phyllis St resident, Sharon Buckley, said she witnessed one of the partygoers get stabbed and said they took refuge at one of her neighbours’ houses across the road.
She said around 30 others were also on their lawn.
“That’s traumatic for them. They’ve got two little kids at home, they saw all that.
“He was out hosing blood off his steps, not something you want to do on a Friday night, not in this nice little quiet street,” she said.
Buckley said from 7.30pm the attendees were starting to get dropped off by their parents.
Within an hour, the yelling began, so neighbours decided to bring their cars in off the road, anticipating the party was going to “kick off”.
“This happened a couple of years ago, same property, same guy that owns it,” she claimed.
Buckley said even her cat, Ricky Baker, was traumatised.
She said she spoke to several of the attendees who said they had travelled from South Auckland for the event.
Buckley said she believed the owner of the property, which is listed on several online booking sites, should be responsible for the situation.
“He allowed the booking to go through.”
Buckley said it was clear to her that anyone coming was “not here for a happy weekend, they’re here for a party”.
She said something similar had happened at the property a few years ago.
“A couple of years ago, the kids actually came out and damaged all the cars in the street, wing mirrors were knocked off, it was just, you know, invasion of all our privacy, coming down into our driveways.
The property is owned by Nzlandmax Ltd. Quan Shu is listed as one of the previous company directors and has been inactive since October 2024.
The Herald was unable to contact Shu and one of the other listed directors at their home today, but Shu previously spoke about similar problems at his two Phyllis St properties.
In 2019, following another out-of-control party, a neighbour said they believed Shu did not do his due diligence in checking if those he rented to online were reliable.
However Shu told the Herald he was equally frustrated with the repeated damage to his property and was looking into ways to permanently stop it from happening.
“Of course we care, if we have a bad tenant who damages things, eventually we are the victim. We just need to find a better solution to control this situation,” Shu said.
In 2019, Shu said there had only ever been single people booking and checking into his two Phyllis St properties on Booking.com.
“In our policy, we say no parties. It’s just entirely out of our control.”
Buckley said she believed the owner should pay the rental money from the Friday night party to her neighbours, who had to clean the blood off their steps.
“He should come and give that money to the people across the road to say sorry for what they had to go through last night,” Buckley said.
Shu has been involved in other controversies as a landlord.
Stuff reported in 2022 that a bullet was found on an Epsom property, owned by Shu as a landlord through his property management business, ARent1.
In January this year, RNZ reported that ARent1 had been ordered to pay more than $60,000 in exemplary damages after tenants at 34 properties complained of cockroaches, sewage overflows and holes in their walls and floors.
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