You approach their kids and are accused of tampering with the old folks....I see 2 options: Either get even closer with them - in a genuine way, don't just do it out of greed (IMO) or just go straight business mode and approach them with a generous offer based on them moving when THEY feel ready to move....You stand the risk of irritating someone no matter what you do, but on the other hand, the only way to get a great deal sometimes is to walk out on that limb and jump....

It took my friend and I about 15 hours to re-tile the kitchen, so I would have to vehemently agree with things taking longer than expected haha.In a nutshell, I just don't want to do rehab projects that I couldn't comfortably do myself given enough time such as plumbing, electrical, foundation, mold/toxic materials, or roof.

Also, it's not uncommon for tenants to complain about things only after they run into difficulties themselves, e.g. being delinquent or late on rent, as  way to somehow "justify" or balance out their transgressions.As irritating as it is the way  they chose to complain, you have to consider their complaints to determine if they are legitimate or just overblown and unreasonable.

(And WHEN that mountain of "toxic debt" might ultimately "spiral- out," and the entire edifice IMPLODE, is anyone's guess?)

The zoning laws and building codes are sold to the people on the premise that they will protect us from having a toxic waste dump next to our elementary schools. 

It’s certainly irritating, but one of those things that’s simply not worth dwelling on.

At first it started with simple irritation on the siblings and mother siblings part, but it’s only escalated from there.

The reasons for my decision to diversify away from the UK is primarily due to political reasons - the general attitudes from a political perspective are currently quite toxic towards landlords - i.e. a number of new taxes and regulations have been introduced over the past few years to make rental investing less attractive and to encourage more home ownership - I don't expect this to change in the near future (as an example, it is now not possible to deduct mortgage interest from the income before taxation in the UK). 

You put some box on it to prevent turn-off, tenant shuts off a circuit breaker that feeds that system electricity.Tenant + irrigation = Landlord + irritation :)

I know you don't have the toxic chemicals etc.