It makes sense they do that for safety reasons but how frustrating for you! 

I've looked into and it just doesn't make sense, and has a lot of hurdles.

If I can make it just under 20' by bringing the window all the way to the floor that would be great. 

In an effort to make sure they do hold up the referral fee would you have them sign a referral agreement?  

This flexibility makes it easier for investors to secure financing and grow their portfolio.2.

I don't think I'll be able to make too much money off of it, but want to get an idea of what I'd be getting myself into, I'm in the research phase.

Everything was reinforced with extra beams, so we just didn't make it look pretty since it's in the attic.

It is a way to maybe get your money back for damage.

I just wanted to get some extra details to make sure I'm relaying the information correctly.

I would share the cold hard tenant ledger and let the next LL decide how to interpret it.As far as lying, acting as someone's accomplice in a fraud make you both rather bad people and sort of undermines your stated reason for looking to do this in the first place.