I don't have an answer on the tax question and don't want to sound too harsh but if you have the ability to buy the house why don't you just help them get current on their mortgage?

If they do you will lose.I prefer to use contractors and take tenants to court to collect.I understand your point about use contractors then get your money in court and I also understand that Canada is pretty harsh, in some respects, on landlords.  

It's not mean, it's not harsh..

And a few hundred dollars a year chemicals.

The comment you are quoting is a direct response to a very harsh depiction of this tenant that wasn't indicated by the original poster.

As far as making tenants responsible for drains, suspect that could lead to more problems, I had several dump nasty chemicals in drains in the past, that can cause all kinds of problems.           

Only problem was the land was under active railroad tracks, and the remainder was wetlands.Speaking of which I have seen wetlands, flood plans, land protected by easements, or some other reason that the property can nt be built on, sold at tax sale.I've seen property sold at tax sale that were toxic waste sites, including Super Fund sites.I've seen a chrome factory sold at tax sale abandoned by the company because of toxic chemicals in the ground.I've seen former gas stations, dry cleaners, auto repair garages, and other toxic sites sold at tax sale.All of the above either have ZERO VALUE or NEGATIVE VALUE, welcome to the wonderful world of Tax Sales.

I've been there and I've heard about a number of landlords that were surprised about the harshness of airbnb management, if a problem was expected to get solved. 

We are constrained on the West by ocean, South by Mexico, North by Camp Pendleton, and East quickly gets harsh 5) cost of construction: currently it is ~$100K to break ground on a new SFR. 

And don’t be too harsh as this is my first post... jk..Amit