Tenants want credit for inconvenience of broken shelves

[Jessica Young]

Here's what happened:

2 weeks into first month with tenants, the one who is the point of contact sent videos and photos of wire shelves in a small kitchen pantry not having brackets and was worried they weren't secure, wanted to buy brackets and drill them herself, be reimbursed. We refused and said we'd like our professional handyman to do the work and to not put anything even slightly heavy on them until affixed.

While waiting to hear back from handyman, tenant put heavy things on shelves anyway, then wrote us that the shelves and all her things broke. She said we're lucky she was not injured (has since mentioned this 3 times).

When the handyman reached out to schedule a time to come evaluate and estimate (we live out of state), she texted him a dozen times with measurements and instructions about what he needed to do. He kept just asking to arrange access and gave up when she would not name a time. I asked her to stop contacting him and talked him into seeing the job through. When I gave her a 10-hour availability window the next day, she refused and said she waited long enough (it had been 4 days since the shelf broke). Handyman said he will work with us again only after she is out.

We hired another handyman who went in today and said that the pantry is not built correctly - none of the shelves are at studs and the pantry backs up to the electrical panel so it requires caution and know-how. It's original from 1980 and to be safe, needs to be totally rebuilt, which he detailed as a pretty involved job. We plan to renovate the kitchen, but not yet. I told the tenant the handyman can remove the wire shelves and put in a sturdy stand alone stainless multi-tiered shelf like people often have in storage spaces or garages. 

Tenant responded that is unacceptable, that they are overpaying for the place, that we are taking advantage and have landlord responsibility to find solutions, said they're living like squatters with things that should be on shelves strewn all over, wants us to offer $ credit for how terrible it is. 

The condo is fully furnished with 2 bedrooms, one of which has a large walk in closet and a dresser that takes up a whole wall. The other has a full size armoire and closet. There is another large closet adjacent to the pantry. In the living room, there is a huge storage cabinet. The kitchen has additional drawers and cupboards. The rental includes a large storage locker as well. In other words, a lot of room for things to not be strewn.

She also told me (for the second time) that the place would sit empty and unrented without them due to being overpriced and that they made a mistake renting it. (The price reflects the location, as it's a highly desirable neighborhood and a block from the beach, but is priced far less than the luxury condos in the same neighborhood. I don't think I need to justify this as no one forced them to rent it and we priced it according to our research.)

This is why I have offered to release them from the lease without penalty twice, an offer they refused. I pointed this out again today and gave a gentle reminder that September is not that far off (they're only renting for 6 months, anyway!). I also pointed out that the lease states they agreed to the condition and that they did two walk-throughs. 

Thoughts?

(A related question - how do you landlords handle high maintenance repair demands from tenants that end up costing you far more than the rent? At that point, you're paying to have renters, right? Makes no sense to me.)