1099-C Cancellation of Debt?

I ran across a short topic about using 1099-C’s to write off unpaid rents. Has anyone used this process? What are the requirements? Do you have to have a judgment or can you also write off unpaid rents thus forcing the prior tenants to pay taxes on the “income” and getting the tax break on money that will likely never be collected.

I see this as free money and a way to collect on what prior tenants owe us without waiting years for an off chance that a tenant will decide clean up their credit.

Best wishes,

Ryan Needler