PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. – A short-term rental host who says her guests damaged her house says the renters misled her so she wouldn’t know they were planning a large Halloween party.
“It’s not just them having a good time. It’s somebody else’s expense,” Teresa Angelico told News 6 Monday.
She said she booked the two young guests seen entering her home on her doorbell camera.
Through VRBO messages Angelico received, the guests claimed to be visiting to see their father in the hospital with cancer.
“And my parents died of cancer so I was very empathetic,” Angelico said.
Across the street on Adina Road, neighbor Kathy Supinski said she watched at least 100 more people show up, some of them parking on her property.
“I was afraid that something would happen in my yard,” Supinski said. “Because it was out of hand.”
Back at Angelico’s house, she found broken kitchen cabinets, and she said the party guests also damaged a door.
Deputies responded to the party after a report of a fight.
While the sheriff’s office found a battery victim who had their phone stolen, it said other people who were involved had already left and no one was arrested.
Angelico said deputies haven’t been able to help her.
“They told me to reach out to VRBO and VRBO told me they can’t help me,” she said.
VRBO’s email to Teresa read, “For security and privacy reasons we cannot provide information about the guest.”
Last week, the county commission reported fewer than 20% of short-term rentals in unincorporated Brevard are legal.
Airbnb, another short-term rental company, said it was going to use AI to crackdown on rentals being used for parties during the Halloween period.
Angelico said she displays her license to let her guests know she’s legitimate.
“They were very disrespectful,” she said. “They have to realize that this is what I do for a living. They set me back a lot.”
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