as illegal drug use/posession  is CRIMINAL regardless of circumstances. see something, say something!

I'd run what I could, verify that they were students in good standing, and/or had an offer letter and I'd call HR to verify employment, and Google everybody, and run eviction/credit/criminal where I could.  

(I think the best karma I've seen is throwing out one deadbeat tenant, and then discovering that another tenant of ours was a repo(wo)man and was trying to reposess the ex-tenants car.)The solution for landlords is that damage over a certain amount to a property was a criminal offense.

But, they can't fake their criminal records or their credit score or their employment, etc., as long as you thoroughly vet them.And I did put my number in the Craigslist ads, and only showed by appointment, but this is how I screened them:They call, I let it go to voicemail.  

Now we have uncovered the fact that they are not using our furnished lease, providing us tenants with criminals records and worse, and collecting late fees from tenants but not crediting them to us.Recently I partnered on a few houses with a friend of mine and he is now like a terrier on a mouse - once he found an single issue he went wild investigating.

We fired one of our property managers a few weeks ago and are now hearing about issues of negligence and possible criminal activity with missing tenant payments and/or not properly handling security deposits.  

Whether you are a Section 8 property or not, you still want to get tenants who will pay rent and not damage your property, or cook meth in it, etc.If the only people who are willing to live in a property are criminals or undesirables, then you will have problems.So, no, not any property will be a good investment.  

I emailed him a list of all of the terms and he said the only thing this company won't do is the criminal background check.

You only need to prove your case to 51%, not "beyond all reasonable doubt" like a criminal case.

@Robert Ablorh If the collections were medical and closed, and their current credit, criminal, and eviction histories as well as their rental references are good they sound like a decent pick to me.