It's all well and good until something goes wrong--a house fire from DIY electrical work, a flood from shoddy plumbing, etc--and the "tenants" try to get compensated, but find themselves plunged into a legal mess because they can't even prove that their "landlord" owns the property.

I hate overly-nosy neighbors too, but honestly, having lived in a wannabe slumlord's property for a while, I would much rather have been prevented from moving in at all... which would have happened if our neighbors had known what was going on and taken action. Living there was no fun.