Snow and lawns in Minnesota Duplex

[Andrew Heairet]

Hello BP. I inherited a tenant in one unit of a duplex in St. Paul, MN on a M2M lease (the other unit is vacant - which I will owner occupy for a year). I’m switching them over to my own lease and need to set snow and lawn terms. The property is on a corner lot with two sidewalks, and the holdover tenant claims their old landlord assigned one sidewalk to each tenant for snow removal. There is a two stall garage and the old agreement was that the tenant would also shovel their side of the driveway if they rented a parking spot. These terms were not in their lease but one sidewalk and half the driveway badly needed shoveling on the day I closed which confirms this was indeed the tenant’s understanding. They claim they also shared lawn mowing with the other tenant but would alternate weeks (also not in the lease). I’m curious how you handle snow and lawn care in small MFRs. My original thought was to offer a rent discount for snow and lawn care to a single tenant and they’d just be responsible for everything. That avoids the issue of “well that’s not my problem” if the other unit is vacant (or if one of the garage stalls goes unrented). Existing conditions prove this tenant has that attitude. I also don’t like a “switch turns” approach to lawn care because that just opens the door for fighting between two tenants when I eventually move out, and I’d like to avoid that drama. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!