Apartments at St Clair owner-manager Gavin Turner said rubbish and "unsanitary'' items left by freedom campers were a blemish on the city's landscape and some people were taking advantage of the city's liberal freedom camping rules.
"I don't believe the freedom camping rules around here are working,'' Mr Turner said.
The main problems were the exploitation of the city's camper van parking rules, rubbish being thrown on the ground and washing being hung on makeshift lines, he said.
Many people exploited the rule that camper vans could stay in a parking spot for only two days by regularly returning to the same parking spaces.
"There are more and more of them these days.
"There's one vehicle that's been parking here [in Bedford St] since last winter.
"They should be at motor camps. If the areas haven't got the facilities, they shouldn't have camper vans.''
As for washing being hung in public spaces, Mr Turner has a simple solution: "Just don't do it.
"We don't allow people to hang their washing off their verandas here, because it's unsanitary.''
Dunedin City Council recreation planning and facilities manager Jendi Paterson said if the campers were in certified self-contained vehicles, they were legally allowed to park there.
However, she said it was concerning campers were putting up clothes lines between trees in the car park to dry their clothes.
"I understand why someone would complain about washing hanging in a very public space.
"But it's not really something we can stop. There's nothing in the bylaw around laundry drying.''
She said the DCC had not had any complaints about freedom campers in the area to date, but if a complaint was made to the council, an enforcement officer would be sent to the site to check the vehicles were certified self-contained campers and "have a wee bit of a discussion'' about hanging washing in a public place.
