Rather than trying to nit pick his way through the facts to try to determine which side was "right, " the judge  simply ordered the deposit be returned,  along with offering some free advice along the lines of "next time you do such an offer/agreement, do a better job of tying up any loose ends to prevent misunderstandings that end up in court."

It prevents proper screening standards from being followed.

I also read the forums here, and each time someone shares a problem they've had, I ask myself if my lease language would have prevented or addressed that issue. 

However to prevent getting overextended or other pitfalls from growing too fast, I am one to two months away from putting in a solid offer on a new deal.

To me, its seems like you almost need to prove there were no bedbugs present when the tenant moved in, and even if you do that I'm not sure this information will prevent the landlord from being responsible for the cost of future mitigation.

@Damian Lopez The only thing that will prevent you from being able to move a property is the price.

I hope that won’t prevent me from securing a loan for a property I want.

You want to avoid any unnecessary bad feelings with your tenant going forward.If the above is somewhat accurate, I have a question for you.

It may not work if you get called in front of a judge but if everything is documented properly it should prevent the tenant from filing in the first place.If I'm going to miss the deadline because work still isn't done, I'll charge the tenant based on contractor estimates or make up my own.

If the tenant needs to leave for assisted living or worse I can look to rent it out, but this option at least prevents me from having to pay the full mortgage for 3-4 months.