The owner however reported that since he raised the rent on both units a few months back, one of the tenants has stopped paying rent.

Anyway, he called me and told me my direct mail marketing was harassment and to stop or he would summons me for harassment.

You can stop the lease if it "doesn't work out" by giving the tenant notice.

Not only did he stop dumping over the rail, from that point until he retired 20yrs later, every piece of refuse that came up in the gear was brought ashore and put in the garbage.

I do believe I need to borrow that open house idea from you!

Is it legal to require the borrower to sign a deed in lieu of foreclosure at the closing so if there is a default does not have to go through foreclosure just file the deed?

The key to accepting the 85% 15 year deal from the bank's perspective is the borrower's credit worthiness outside of the deal itself.

If I understand correctly this means that if I default, he doesn't even have to foreclose he can just file the for the deed to transfer to him.Now, what is stopping him from going and transferring the deed even without me defaulting (after I sign off on the Deed in Lieu)?

My first step is to stop paying rent and getting nothing in return.

My advice is stop wasting your time trying to out smart the legal requirements, it can't be done if the law applies to a transaction.