If they are power hogs or water wasters let them deal with the bills themselves.Trash should be the only thing covered by rent to insure service every week and doesn't get stopped by non payment.Don't give them an excuse to let garbage pile up and attract insects and government fines.

I have a tenant that's calling me on the installed microwave door being "hard to open ".. ...another called me about the fridge not "cooling enough".....I've provided appliances always....I had the fridge looked at.....regular cooling....as in excuse me, "but your melted ice cream should not freeze within 3 minutes of you putting it in the freezer?

Have your criteria in writing and maybe email it to yourself, so you can establish a date for when it was created.I also denied anyone who was late for an appointment with me and didn't call with a darn good excuse, like they were stuck in a bad traffic jam - and I verified there was one.There won't be many bad tenants who make it through your criteria, if it's tough.  

I have only had to issue a couple notices but they seem to be very effective, it shows you mean business and won't tolerate excuses. 

Their excuse for an immediate move is usually because their landlord "won't fix anything". 

They will have sob stories and excuses, simply tell them up front that their personal life is of no concern to you as a landlord.

The made up story was just an excuse to the break the lease.

My husband: Excuse me?

For properties that I have property managers for, I don't have a problem them using the same excuse and make me, the "investor", look like the bad guy.I just threw out the idea of doing work. 

Not sure why I should GAF about their accounting period but that’s one of the excuses they’re claiming.