,What a landlord CAN do - legally - is one thing.What a landlord SHOULD do - morally, ethically - may be another matter.What's legal isn't always either moral or ethical.What's ethical and/or moral is not necessarily legal.Food for thought...David J Dachtera

Surely an ethical tenant would have informed you of no rent deductions taking place from her account.

Ethically:  if your true intent is to live in it while fixing it up, and ultimately sell it, there’s no problem with that.

Just because they got their degree, doesn't mean they have good work ethics, bother to look up laws, actually do any work....it's not a magical answer. 

In light of all the recent threads about COVID-19, worrying about tenants not being able to pay rent, legislation that seems to screw over landlords month after month, and ethical dilemmas about where it is our obligation as landlords (or God's children) to cover the bills of tenants because of (fill in the blank)Cash flow is for poor investors or investors that are poor (Apologize in advance to the BP / GRE / Turnkey advertisers)Let me introduce to you a concept that is not often talk about, and probably frowned upon over the last 11 year bull market:Big A** Mortgage (BAM)Things most investors foolishly ignore..- Historic rent growth- Historic appreciation rate.- NOI per square foot- Operating expenses per sf- Capex per sfCash flow is for poor investors or investors that are poor.If you need or hoped for cash flow to pay your cable bill then you probably should not be investing in real estate.

Tell them you want to file an ethics complaint and then explain the situation.

Members of this association place ethics and values above all else and are true fiduciaries (something that sadly has become lost).P.S.

However I believe the stat is over 80% of ethics cases and license removal situations happen with "Dual agency".

Comment:   Even if this were true and there was no Agency contract between Seller and the Listing Agent, I don't believe that would give the Listing Agent, still acting as an Escrowee, the legal and/or ethical right to release Earnest Money to you without the Seller's written permission.Question: Does this mean that the Listing Agent is stating that they did have to get a signed release from the Seller because there was no Agency agreement between the two of them?

But we will have to do it legally and ethically.