Does the money belong to me or the Tenant?

[Chukwudi Motanya]

Hi all,

I took control of the house in February 5th and there was an existing tenant inside the house. At the time, the existing owner had a property manager who was looking over the house. The tenant paid the rent for the month of February to the property manager, then the previous owner instructed the property manager to give me the entire rent of February.

Everything seemed fine, but a few days later, I get a call from the tenant asking why they had to pay February rent, when they already pre paid for February at the beginning of the lease. Confused, I looked into the lease that I was given from the Property Manager after closing. I realized that I had been given the wrong lease. The correct lease did show that February rent was pre paid, but the Tenant paid the rent anyway on February. Now the tenant is requesting the money back and is taking me to court for it.

I think how things should have gone down, the original owner should have given me the rent money at closing, but he is living in Singapore and wants nothing to do with this transaction

What is the right move in this situation? How can I prevent something like this in the future?

Thanks all,

Chudi