If the building is damaged, it isnot considered permanently retired from service where thetaxpayer repairs and restores the building and returns it to actualservice within a reasonable period of time.

You should have a deposit to cover some of this damage as well.

They then had to pay damages, court costs, attorney costs, etc.

What we would want to do is figure out if the previous Mortgagee (Lender) had "Lender Placed Insurance" or "Forced Place Insurance" on the Subject Property during the event when the property burnt or became damaged.  

wondering if anyone has a simple contract that they use with their contractors which covers items such as start and finish dates, liquidated damages, progress payments with milestones, quality of work minimums, insurance requirements, etc.Im a construction estimator/project manager for my main job and our contracts are of a size that would scare off most small contractors that work on individual properties.

Thing is the extra damage is going to cost us more but relatively speaking not too much more.  

You'll never have a problem with rent, damage to the property or anything else with these types of tenants. http://memphisdiscountedproperties.net

I like that I can install them myself- and just replace individual squares when they get damaged. 

I will also note any damage that I believe could have been caused by these animals and bill them now.  

You could have structural damage hidden somewhere that could cause the property to be uninhabitable.