Again it isn't enforced necessarily, but if there are issues at the home that will be one of the codes at their disposal to shut the property down.That's literally what 3 different realtors told me but I still don't believe in luck and good human behavior and want to protect my rear with legality being on my side :) 

As long as you operate within the law, there is no requirement to explain or justify your behavior.

A PM isn't going to change his behavior.

@Meggie, I agreed that a small claim court will be good to get the bad behavior in court.

I prefer not to hire attorneys but when people receive correspondence from attorneys their behavior tends to be quite different.

Yes,none of those damages are "wear and tear",they are reckless behavior and you deserve compensation.Get estimates on repairing the damage and use the entire deposit to pay for it.If you have their forwarding address,send them a bill for whatever the deposit didn't cover.Get lots off close up pictures of the damages for the lawyers and or small claims judge as well as line by line written damage estimates on everything.Don't take this garbage lying down,fight back!!!

If these individuals are known for this behavior I would imagine that they have it "figured out". 

I was just wondering if people used any other dis-incentives financial or otherwise to control this type of behavior.

By addressing that one item, late rent, with a site visit and inspection in August 2013, you would have been able to look for the root cause of the change in his behavior and perhaps would have discovered the events of July 2013 at that time, including the move-in of his brother and family.

No one knows what the future will bring and the past is not always a good predictor of future behavior, but I lean toward the Midwest continuing to lag other markets in appreciation.