I have known perfectly decent properties get trashed by entitled deckhiads who think that landlords are rolling in it and can afford to lose a few quid and in any case "it's all insured"...
Yes you are perfectly correct and we've had 2 'problems' since becoming landlords:
First was a tenant moved out and let a friend move in, he sent monthly checks for 3 months and the agents contacted our official tenant, he explained [lied] it was to do with the way he was being paid. The checks stopped, a visit to the property indicated it was no longer occupied but it was full of rubbish and very dirty. Not destroyed/vandalised but it took a 2nd skip.
Second the tenant had been there 3 or 4 months before being escorted from the property [according to his mother (who lived opposite)- for his own protection]. The following day I was boarding up broken windows when the fight broke out in the street, his mother was removed along with a van load of pot plants. I heard from the police the fight was bigger the previous evening which expained the damage to windows, doors walls and flooring.
Yeah I've had a couple of problems but the agents are normally pretty good at rejecting bad tenants.
One of the properties I visited with a view to purchasing was a victim of bad tenants: Outside was perpect, inside all doors and frames were smashed/jemmied, not a single bit of metal left [even the fischer screws removed from window frames and openers were wedged into place with cardboard, front door fischers and all internal furniture removed door, fires started in all sanitary ware, electric accessories removed and cable removed as far as possible, steel partition studding gone and PB wrecked on wooden studded walls.
So yes I've seen the results others have suffered.
Part 2 of this tale the selling agents were a tiny company operated from a room of their home and I din't trust them [truthfully they were the main reason for not buying] I also found out from one of my managing agents the estate agent was also the managing agent for the property.