You made some mistakes when you moved in by not protecting yourself, is it worth your time effort and expense or would you be better off simply accepting lesson learned.Many landlord will gamble the tenant will decide it is not worth the battle and those landlords are usually right.

I really don’t want a major legal battle.

Plus, he knows he's not likely to get paid for any lengthy legal battle. 

No matter what you do, it's a constant battle. 

Congrats on winning that battle.

to which Alexander replied laconically, “We’ll use their ships.”In Asia there was Chinese general, Xiang Yu, who ordered his troops across the river and quietly burned the bridge behind them, a tactic that got the boys so motivated that they beat the mighty Qin at the Battle of Julu in 207BC.Julius Ceasar, the Ancient Roman who wrote long letters home so that everyone would know about his incredibly wonderful victories...So, decide what you want to do.

If you had good local management in place- that you've already battle-tested, and know that they're honest, competent, and won't walk away from you at the first sign of trouble- I might answer differently.

I personally don’t know anything about that type of marketing or technology, but my son is apparently pretty good based on the battle to get him when he became free and my personal knowledge that he’s good at whatever he does. 

Any small time landlord like you has a bigger risk of getting struck by lightning than going through some court battle for denying a felon's rental application.

It is like a Black Belt in a sense we prepared and planned ahead before the battles.