Meaty mess

Delayed, if not unpaid, rent is a common problem for landlords. Another is property damage. Worse, both can happen.

When American couple Rosanna Busgith and Philip Garnett left the Queens, New York house they were renting from Vanie Mangal on 17 January, one day before they were to be evicted, they owed unpaid rent amounting to $48,800, New York Post reported.

Mangal had taken the tenants to housing court as far back as December 2020 for not paying rent since April that year. They reportedly paid only $800 in March 2020, or half the original rent, when they moved into the two-story house in October 2019.

On top of the business loss, the condition the squatters left the house in brought no relief to Mangal.

There was raw meat left in a trash bag and uncooked salmon inside an unplugged refrigerator, which left the place reeking of rotting food, according to NYP.

The kitchen sink was bashed in and the circuit breakers and thermostat were ripped out of the electric box and wall. Mangal was almost stabbed by a nail protruding from a sofa.

Garnett and Busgith denied vandalizing the rental house, claiming it was already “in a bad state” when they rented it. Mangal vowed to never rent out the house again.

Meanwhile, a New Jersey woman experienced a bizarre case of vandalism as reported by Pix 11 and NYP.

On 24 January, Heather Dougherty woke up to find the outside of her house and car messed up. She reported the head-scratching incident to the Manville Police Department, NYP reported.

On the floor and steps of the porch, the driveway, and on the hood and trunk of her car someone had scattered slices of pepperoni.

The owner of a nearby pizzeria, who was not a suspect in the vandalism, said the pepperoni were larger than the ones used to top pizzas.

Without a clue as to the motive for the sausage littering, the incident may just be a case of someone trying to meat the neighbor, according to NYP.