Having strong tenant screening practices in place helps - my manager charges $40 per credit check and doesn't make much off it, but checks court records, criminal records, credit, and so on.

And if he still isn’t satisfied, the appropriate remedy is usually small claims court. 

An attorney should know what the courts in your area typically grant and what they don't including late fees and interest. 

The city says they do take business' recycles for free but since ours are rather big in volume, this appears to be rather tricky to make arrangements (city says they only pick up once a week).

If they filed Chapt 13, the court makes them pay from the filing date on plus some amount necessary to bring the unpaid rent current over the course of time.

It only means you won and have a court order for judgement.

When driving by the property, the remnants appeared to be elderly. 

It's probably not as accurate as a current owner property search on the Superior Court Clerks website but they even have about a week lag time in updating the Fulton county property transfers.

That means your name appears on NOTHING.

If it's not, my presumption would be that there is no "protection period" for you agent - unless CA law provides for a minimum period.It's better that you not end up finding out in court though.