Fastforward to today and I have enough equity to pay the lien off.

Have not had a 'issue' selling in the past five years..I would say the additional development cost of an extra bedroom/bathroom are probably well worth it in the long run..Good luck. 

The response I received from the PM was that it's due to recent legislation where she's seen "professional" tenants take advantage of recent tenant protection laws that allow them to stay in the property without having to pay rent for the term of the lease. 

If your why on investing in real estate is to make extra money, that's a start, but it's not the real why.

I provide tenants with a form to request any improvements and it spells out exactly what they are doing, what material will be used, who will do the work, who pays for it, what happens to it when they leave, etc.

But I guess a lot of you seem to think that extra cost is negligible if I am refinancing anyway.

This might not seem like a big deal, but when you have several properties it is great to have a picture with an address.It costs tenants extra to pay rent through doorloop, it is free on tenant cloud. 

For example, in Florida, a landlord only has to give 3 days' notice to pay (excluding weekends and legal holidays) to the tenant, but the Zillow lease provides for more than 3 days.

The lease should dictate any free rent dates, so there should be no assuming involved.  2: If it is 100% occupied why are you paying any TI.  

How can I confirm that the tenant is paying on time and properly maintaining the property?