Has your PM recommended filing a Small Claims suit to secure a judgement for the deficiency (nothing like having someone living on your dime while getting a new car, phone, etc)?  

Unfortunately the only way to disqualify them was going through the process until I found the property was a second position, hoa, foreclose was deficient, surviving liens etc..Creating a report with only relevant data, grouped and ordered a certain way would allow me to see disqualifying characteristics very quickly...so that what i set out to build I started with only a few fields (case number, folio, address) used that data to look for other data like owner names , then that data to check for liens, mortgages, court dockets , violations, tax bills, permits,  etc..it was definitely a challenge to say the least.Data is vast and its spread out in many sources all with different  challenges i.e search parameters, integrity and availability To name a few...

I see things when I tour rentals, but typically submit my offer without a list of noticed deficiencies (Let me know if this is a dumb move).then the inspector looks around, we highlight the biggest ticket items and ask for repairs or some money back.

Also In many instances there is no personal guaranty and you could not sue for a deficiency.

Some are just listed and some have been lingering on the market (over priced or some deficiency not readily apparent?)

I will let the other posters address the deficiency in your potential purchase. 

I've seen builders sell so much BS to a client and if you've only build zero or 1 house, you buy the BS and keep on moving, when often that issue should be fixed and will be fixed if your realtor calls it out.Often these issues are found when you resale the house and your buyer does a home inspection and then starts pointing out deficiencies. 

Are your main concerns that (A) the form itself does not ask all of the right questions (or does not ask them correctly) and (B) that clients fill out the form with incorrect or insufficient information, and that these deficiencies are best corrected with a phone call with the client?

I would think a responsible tenant would have documented any obvious deficiencies when they moved in if they were worried about getting the security deposit back.But I'll reiterate, I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if that's legal or not. 

Remember though, appraisers aren't really there to determine structural deficiencies. 15 minutes of pictures/walk-through does not equal a 3-5 hour inspection (this was an off-market deal as-is with a HML).