My wife and I are in the process of getting our finances in order to purchase a new house and rent our current one. We intend to deal with a rental agency to somewhat protect ourselves from this type of mess. We will happily take the financial hit to not have to deal with the courts and tenants. One of the ones we are looking at also offers insurance against damage renters do. The way I understand it, the agency pays to return the house to "original" condition and they deal with the previous renters about being paid back. Again, worth every penny for years to avoid the one bad renter that destroys the house.