High Maintenance Tenant - Looking for your input

[Anne W.]

Hello all, I am looking for your input on managing this tenant. He is very high maintenance and I am at my limit. I am not perfect, so maybe it's me... Regardless, please feel free to share your constructive feedback. I always find great advice on this forum. 

Background

I rented out our previous home of 10+ years. House was built in early 90's. Highly desirable neighborhood. Newer roof, new windows, HW flood throughout the house, new master bath. Rent is 3K, but is average for that area. 2-yr lease and we are halfway. Tenants are husband+wife+6 & 2 yso. Husband owns a small business, has a rental in another city, 800+ credit score. Wife just started working. 

I mainly deal with the husband and I've found it get increasingly difficult to manage tenants. I would say that they are my stresser these days. I am quite surprised by the maintenance needs. Here's the laundry list of repair items in the past 12 months.

1) fridge doesn't make ice consistently: we repaired twice. I also offered to buy silicone ice trays

2) sprinklers don't water the lawn evenly causing certain area saturate with water: repaired

3) basement shower head occasionally dripping water: repaired 

4) master bedroom ceiling light/fan turned on by itself at nights: repaired

5) gas fireplace flame is smaller than optimal: ignored

6) water accumulating on window wood sills: turns out they set humidifier at 60% indoor causing condensation

7) Kids bathroom toilet water tank - slow water intake: repaired

8) unused rifle bullet found on the sidewalk - tenant was very agitated: I went to the sheriff's office and was told it's hunting season and someone probably dropped it. 

9) Washer making loud metal banging noise. - Manufacturer attempted to repair three times and eventually I managed to get a new washer under the warranty, but the delivery was such a headache because tenant refused to let us in if they were not home. He even accused my husband "broke into the house with the delivery team when his wife is with her client". 

10) master bathroom tub faucet pipe leaking causing water stain on the family room ceiling: repaired. We used maybe 10 times during our 12 years living there. They use every day, so the copper pipe eroded. We took down tiles to access the plumbing, so there's tile, drywall repair, paint, etc. 

11) fridge sometimes froze his food, sometimes is not cold enough - I checked it and told him "it's uncommon that the fridge is both hot and cold. Please make sure the door is sealed shut". It's a 17 years old fridge, but we've never had any problem with it and we cooked daily living in that house. 

12) The main valve for the sprinkler system (outside) leaked water - repaired

13) a sprinkler head broken shooting water to the sidewalk - repaired

14) Backyard wooden deck has two quarter-size paint chips which exposed wood filler underneath - ignored. 

The tenant's always emailed the maintenance request, polite and LONG emails. They are monthly and the most recent one is bi-weekly.  As I was thinking the repair needs would ease off while entering the 2nd year of the lease, I was quite stressed when I received another LONG email when I was out of country. In this email, there are five items. 

1) Outside spigot is leaking water inside the house - we have never used that spigot. 

2) a dead small aspen in the front yard

3) clogged gutter

4) Deck has rotted posts and floor boards - "unsafe for his children"..."hurt their bare feet"..."try to screw would be temporary fix" - the wood deck was repaired and painted one year ago. 

5) Fridge spoiled his food - tenants said he told us "multiple times" the fridge is bad news and it costed "$550 damage" to his food over the holidays because they were "frozen" in the refrigerator section and spoiled as they adjusted temp higher. 

I immediately told tenants that they can go buy an used fridge and  I will reimburse them when I am back to the States. I told them I will inspect the deck and address other items when I am back. In the meantime, no one should walk on the deck barefoot or ride on railings like it's a toy. TBH, I was quite annoyed by the frequency of his long emails and told him please send future maintenance needs to a designated email and a business phone number. Instead of stopping there and then, the tenant wrote another LONG essay fully aware that I was out of country and couldn't do much. They didn't buy the fridge, said the deck repair is not urgent and inquired if I feel them as "challenging tenants".  I didn't read this essay until my flight back, but I couldn't get rid of the annoyance and it did negatively impacted my vacation. 

I don't have a great first impression for this tenant. He chased after us for a 2-year lease. We marketed the property as "no pet, only W/D hook up". Somehow, I allowed their future cat and bought new W/D for them when we signed the lease (I thought it's a goodwill effort, but I now know those are mistakes). Three weeks after signing the lease he told me he wanted to buy a house. I know he has been looking aggressively in our area since moving in. While I think he should be honest upfront and maybe rent from a rental community (there's a nice one 5 min away and belong to the same elementary school), what's done is done. About a month ago, he started pushing me to share our plan after the 2-yr lease ends (which is one year from now). He said it would help decide "how aggressively he should be looking".  

Overall I am pretty fed up by this tenant, but I don't want to make an emotion decision. Maybe I just don't know how to manage him. How would you handle this situation?