I'll spend some extra money just to make sure they aren't encourage by their behavior, but not too much.

When things started going wrong, they probably panicked and hence the fraudulent behavior.

Won't improve the heating bill much but will make the residents feel warmer.I would say getting a 3rd party to install submeters will be more effective at effecting peoples behavior than proportional metering but if submetering each unit is too hard maybe submeter by floor and pit them against each other.

It's a lot easier to make a phone call and remind someone that the rent is due then it is to pay a process server to serve some kind of a notice.This Behavior suggest to me the landlord wants you to move out and is trying to play games.

How can we make contracts anonymous to limit this behavior?

I know people who erect cages inside their houses in secure neighborhoods so that when (not if), criminals break in, their family are safely behind the cages. 

You can find a ton of information about a person from some on-line services, like doing a North Carolina Department Of Public Safety Offender Public Information search using just a name and birthdate.Again, personally, I don't want to deal with people where NCDOC identifies as "Primary Crime: HABITUAL FELON (PRINCIPAL)" as in a 29 year old with 8 pages of criminal history with "total Incarceration Term: 15 YEARS 3 MONTHS 15 DAYS" … think about that for a few seconds... 

Do complete background checks on ALL applicants, including judgments/liens, criminal, Meagan's law, etc.  

His sidekick is an assistant professor of Behavioral and Policy Sciences.

I just didn't pay to run criminal background checks or credit checks.