[sokoloff]

My parents had a rental for 17 years and as they were preparing to retire to another state let the tenant know they'd be selling the place in the next year or so. We paid to one-time pickup the dog poop, and let them know they'd need to keep up the backyard after that (per the lease, but we'd let it slide for years as it was a single-family).

A bit over a year later, tenant moves out and we discover that the backyard is clean because they simply stopped letting the (large breed dog) out. Every bit of carpet and subfloor needed replacing (literally cut out as close as we could with circular saws, seal the 1.5" we couldn't reach, and air the place out; the neighbors complained about the smell and asked if we could keep the windows closed). The wood was soaked/swelled in many places with urine. Every air vent and return was rusted from urine. More than one contractor "no bid" the work; one complained that he was going to have to throw his work boots away after the walk-through.

The tenant had about 2 nickels to rub together, so parents lost a lot of expected gains on that deal.