Fortunately, they were disqualified from my rental based on a criminal misdemeanor for one crime of a violent nature, along with the property not being available until the beginning of next month.

No offense to those but in general who are they to give you advice on a property on abc street in West Hartford CT having NO idea about anything of the local market.My personal opinion.

Tenants will have bad credit and often criminal records.

.- friend submits application after a days online after a day.Several back and and forth for corrections and then based on his checks, income vs. spending more than earning (has traffic / DUI related misdemeanor and criminal tickets; several traffic citation; spending more than it's earning;  has considerable debt) , I informed him that I cannot rent him based on what income information and reports I see (this is prior to employment check).He then decides that his mother will also live with me and then started submitting his application.

Unfortunately most would also involve a considerable amount of "luck" or criminal activity.

Thank you for pointing out there are limitations-as you can imagine there are so many heartbreaking stories of people all over Florida being sold a property only to find out 1. they can't rent it for short-term and 2. getting slapped with a ridiculously (and IMO criminal) fine! 

Failure to disclose certain life endangering issues may be considered criminal.  

Even though the wife doesn't have an income, she could have a nasty criminal record, past evictions, judgments, etc.

I'm not sure who you report it to or what the penalties are (civil or criminal) but she's giving landlords a bad name and should be reported to someone.

I hate criminals and if enough poeople get busted for stealing, it will benefit all of us.