You cannot charge a person for the criminal act of another unless they were an invitee or guest. 

And it seems like tenants know the difference between landlord-tenant disputes while they're still a tenant vs. criminal acts against a former landlord.I haven't personally experienced what you're going to deal with, so I can't speak first hand to that.  

If all other checks look good (credit, criminal, eviction, landlords, etc.) then it might be worth taking them as a month to month tenant only.  

I use TenantBackgroundSearch.com and the site emails the tenant for authorization to run the credit/criminal search.  

Never the one they give you.I would also include no criminal history.  

Note that the mafia doesn't bother trying to extort other criminals, they focus on offering "protection" to the law-abiding small business owner.

They do criminal and credit checks.

If you plan on being in business long term cash for keys is not a appropriate business approach to dealing with criminal tenants.

I see it as another government power grab over landlords and instead of making it easier for us and protect the owner of the property, the criminals win more power over us who are trying to make a living with the rental business.

I focus on describing the actual property itself.However there are some numbers in the ad that will screen out some applicants, such as "One year lease only, first, last, and security deposit due upon lease signing" and "application includes criminal/credit/eviction history screening and employment/income verification".