If you include utilities in the rent, they are far more likely to abuse them and run up the bill.

Bump it up 10 - 15% above historical averages to cover any abuse.

@Karen MargraveI think we agree on a lot of points, but if the government wants to subsidize these people (which it apparently does) they should probably put them on a bus to greener pastures.  

The insanity FINALLY stops (for the moment anyways).It's going to be interesting to see what comes of these tenants who abused the system and are going to FINALLY get evicted.

I checked the local county records and found that the landlord rented to a resident with a history of violence, assault, domestic abuse, a felony and several criminal and alcohol charges.

Tenants are far more likely to abuse what they aren't paying for. 

I have (unfortunately) done this before and it did not work out well due to the fact the abuse on the furniture was pretty heavy.If you do, I'd go with a fake leather couch.

Drug abuse issues too. 

There's really more to it than that, but it would take 10-15 minutes worth of talking to fully explain, which is a little too much for a forum post.The sale or exchange of the dwelling unit requirement that you're reading in both the majority and the dissent of Gates is in effect an anti-abuse rule to prevent someone from engaging in behavior such as: buying land, putting a mobile home on it, then moving the mobile home to a new lot and selling the old lot every couple of years while utilizing the Sec 121 exclusion on each lot sold. 

@Hideaki Yen Because of prior "abuse", at least in Texas lease options and contracts for deed are restricted.