I honestly can't tell if you're just being pedantic or have a point. At the time that a landlord sends the debt to collections, they are no longer expecting to recoup 100%. As a degenerate example, say the renter offers to pay money owed minus one dollar, prior to sending to collections. Any rational landlord will accept this offer - which is settling for less than 100%. So alright yea, a landlord may not settle directly, but sending to collections is conceptually the same thing as settling, inasmuch as it means the debt will be resolved with the landlord receiving less than 100% and the debtor paying less than 100%.