Some of these people aren't familiar with a bowl cleaning brush.

A previous tenant at one duplex did a huge amount of work clearing the brush around the yard.

Maybe I'm too soft to make it as a landlord.  

He didn't need the money and had a soft heart, and had this really weird fear of vacancies, even though vacancies gave me the opportunity to raise rents exponentially with new tenants.I'd give an option B, if you can afford it. 

I first would start soft, with having a conversation with him.  50% chance he will allow for a resolution. 

Depending on the state, using the seller's agent might be your soft spot.

Slumlords overcharge for property in poor neighborhoods that is kept in poor repair and allowed to deteriorate.A slumlord causes negative viewpoints of a landlord to be painted with a broad brush.  

Of course do not be soft but show compassion.

Currently, we ask tenants to apply using an online resource and at that point they are asked to provide a credit report (its a soft pull, they elect to share it with me the landlord).

They were old-school depression babies and did most of their own maintenance even though they were in their 70's and 80's.They were soft-hearted with tenants and the tenants learned to go around me when they thought I'd say no (like little kids) and waylay the brothers in the parking lot when they'd show up on a Saturday morning, to get the "owner" to agree to something instead of asking me first.