When I was growing up, my grandma had a bunch of rental properties. After grandpa died, she never did any repair work on them at all, because that cost money, and she grew up in the Great Depression. I helped take care of the properties, did the mowing and such (for $0.25 per acre, which she thought was lavish pay for her favorite grandchild).
Because the properties were so run-down, the only people who really looked into renting them were scumbags. Yeah, it was nearly impossible to get them evicted. We paid more in utility bills than we ever collected in rent from so many people.
One old woman turned out to be a cat lady, in a house where there were supposed to be no pets. We did a safety inspection, and there were, I shit you not, 47 cats. Not a single litterbox, either. Oh, and the toilet and bathtub had fallen through the rotten floor, since all the cat piss weakened the floor. So this lady hadn't bathed or used a toilet in months.
Believe it or not, that was the good news. We'd been trying to evict her for years. We called the city and got it condemned. Her family sent us death threats for evicting her. Not for letting her live in filth with no toilet or bathtub. It's not like her family didn't know she lived like that; she was so fat, she couldn't go down the three stairs from the front porch. So her family brought her food and whatever she needed. They knew, and did nothing.
When they moved out, they took every doorknob, plumbing fixture, lighting fixture, cabinet door, and electrical outlet.
On the other side, I've rented since I moved out of the dorms. First landlord was awful. Refused to repair water leaking into the windows every time it rained. Refused to repair walls where smoke was coming through from the smoking neighbor. Changed the locks and moved our stuff out two weeks before the lease was over because the apartment was "abandoned" when they came to show it to a prospective renter. We were in the process of moving out, so there were packed boxes, etc. Landlord tipped over potted plants and threw dirt all over, unpacked boxes and suitcases and threw clothes and belongings all over, and dumped packed dishes in the sink and across the counters. Why? To take pictures to make it look like we trashed the apartment. That was a whole ordeal, we got lawyers involved and everything.
They tried to charge us for damages that we listed in the preliminary walkthrough, that they signed. They claimed the walkthrough was invalid because, even though it was signed by both parties, we didn't sign it in their presence. Remember that leaking window they refused to fix? It caused a serious mold issue they tried to charge us for.
Also, they held our property hostage. Claimed it had all been returned, but it obviously had not. Curiously enough, the movers (not contractors, this realty company pulled this often enough they have full-time movers) moved out the valuables first. They're required by law to hold renters' property for so many days until it's claimed, but... I'm pretty sure they "move out" the valuables first and just keep it. Anyway, none of the valuables ever turned up. Wife's jewelry, hundreds of CDs, DVD player, 2-way radios, silver from my parents' wedding, etc.
After we cleaned up and moved out, we took photos during the final walkthrough. Made them sign a document stating that there was no damage to the apartment that wasn't on the preliminary walkthrough. Took photos of the apartment being clean and empty. Each photo showed their representative as well as either me or my wife. At the next meeting, they said a bunch more of our stuff was found in the apartment and that must be where all the missing stuff was, but we left it there so we must not want it, and we can't hold them liable for the missing stuff since we left it behind. They had photos of the stuff piled up in the apartment, so we pulled out pictures showing it not there when we turned in the keys.
We didn't have a lot of options, but at least we were smart enough to document everything. We ended up not having to pay for damages to the apartment, and got some money for the missing stuff, but we lost a lot of heirlooms and family stuff.
That was Investment Realty in Rolla. I hope the owners die in a fire. Slowly. With a cactus up their asses.
Another landlord seemed okay, except for the duplex having zero insulation. Until we moved out. He sent us bills for a ton of stuff, and none of it was valid. There were bills for carpet cleaning (we rented a steam cleaner, and the carpet was far cleaner than it was when we moved in), drape cleaning (no drapes at this apartment), trash removal (the place was clean, and photo documented so, and we were still paying for curbside trash service), and a dozen other items, including repair bills for items the apartment didn't have. Conveniently enough, the landlord stapled a receipt over the address on the bill... because this cleaning/repair bill was for a different address.
We refused to pay, and he sent it to collections. Got a call from collections, talked to the nice lady, and pointed out that the landlord had hidden the address. Asked if they had a fax or an office where we could bring the proof that the debt was not legitimate, and the lady said that wasn't necessary. That was the last I heard of that, except for harassing phone calls from the landlord for six months or so.
So I've been on both sides of renting. I'll tell you that dealing with someone who's less than honest, on either side, is going to be no fun. With that said, as a landlord, you have a lot more money in assets that's on the line. I feel like, as a renter, I can take some precautions to protect myself. As a landlord, there's not much you can do if someone wants to trash your house, and even if you get them evicted and sue them and get a judgement, you'll likely never collect.