Are you failing to recognize how by incurring thousands in damages and leaving the landlord on the hook for that without any other recourse, that the tenant is "screwing with their (landlord's) life"? Not to mention the lives of the landlord's family, and the lives of the tenants who have to absorb the higher costs going forward? Reporting a tenant to collections is the only recourse the law allows for the landlords and it is not as though it is an easy recourse for the landlord either. It costs them in additional funds and time. I would hazard to say that there is a much higher ratio of terrible tenants to terrible landlords. The laws favor the tenants and there are a number of tenants that game the system to the detriment of the landlords.