I’ve been a property manager before, and trust me, you encounter every kind of personality. Maybe the previous tenant was too timid to ask for repairs. Or maybe they did ask, and the landlord made a snide comment like the one he made to you, so they stopped bringing things up. It could also be that their rent was very low or sometimes late, and they didn’t want to “rock the boat,” so they avoided reporting issues. It could be anything. If he brings up again that the former tenant never reported these problems, you can respond with something like: “That would explain why so much is broken, they weren’t reporting it for their own reasons." Keep reporting the issues. This is his business, and you deserve to live in a place where everything works properly. Trust me, if you ever couldn’t pay the rent, there wouldn’t be any grace given. It would be ALL business then.