When I were a lad I got into a vicious circle over checkouts for PPL hire at my club. They used to have a pragmatic approach and so the CFI would allow some renters a bit of leeway recency-wise.
When that changed to six weeks and then to monthly for all, it coincided with a cashflow problem for me.
I could just afford 12 hours a year on the cheapest a/c on the fleet, so every time I turned up for a booked 1 hour solo hire I was check rided. I never had any problems and my notes consistently reflected that. "Good hands" was my favourite comment.
So at the end of the 1 hour check ride the instructor would get out and then express surprise I was following him to the club house. When I explained he had just used up my money I occasionally got a mumbled apology. Seemed like they were told to make money out of the rule blaming the insurance company.
However I was never shown anything in writing to support that.
Now years later, fabulously wealthy with my own aerial carriage I still feel a bit hard done by in view of the number of 'clean' checks recorded.
I support the notion that down time is not necessarily an indication of increased risk but how to translate that into a practical solution escapes me.
SGC