Go for character and attitude. Complaining about a past job shows deep insight into a person.

It comes down to whether there's room to train for this position. This industry is not meant for toxic personalities. I would much rather hire someone with the right mindset for the position who is willing to learn. With that said, if your replacement needs to have the tools and the knowledge to competently fill the position, I would keep looking. Do not settle on a bad attitude as one bad apple can spoil the rest.

We always hire for likability first. When you say he lacks the skills, do you mean he doesn’t possess the skill set, or the experience? If he doesn’t have the skill set, that could be harder. If he needs to be taught, and then consistently practice to obtain the experience he needs, go with the nice one. You can’t teach nice. I had a very wise teacher say once to me, “The interview is as good as it gets. They are trying hard to impress you...” If he was rough in the interview, it won’t get better than that.

Just food for thought when he gets in so
To the meat and potatoes of the real job will he have that great attitude as we all know sometimes that can be the dealbreaker.
The fantastic employees and residents that you’re talking about maybe uncle Bob will be a happier person and he will have experience.

Hands down, I'd take the inexperienced person over the bad attitude all day, any day. The maintenance guy I have now didn't know much when he started, but had a great attitude and a thirst for learning. He researches, asks good questions, seeks guidance, and gets along great with everybody. He takes it personally when he can't do perfect work. It seems like every day he's telling me about something he learned from a YouTube video the night before. My biggest challenge is to limit his workload for his own good. I already know it's going to become a "when the student becomes the master" deal. my background: military, then 30 years construction and management.

I take you are head of maintenance? If so is there someone working under you that would like and deserve a promotion? Then they could do hiring training of new guy. Our company truly believes in promoting within first.