Previous Landlord Contracts

[Jessica Davies]

I am currently under contract to purchase a 4 plex.  The previous owner bought the 4 plex for his child to live in while the child was at college.  All 4 units are currently rented out.  Two of the units are month to month, and two of them recently signed new contracts.  We were sent the contracts today to look them over, and are frustrated with one of the contracts.  This contract was signed one month ago (well after the current owner new he was trying to sell the 4 plex) by the owners child.  The contract isn't similar to any of the other contracts, is under market, and has allowances that the other contracts do not.  The other contracts require deposits, pet deposits, and additional pet fees for each month in addition to rent.  This contract with the child has no deposits, no pet deposits, allows the tenant to have 2 large dogs in the unit, the rent is under market value, and there are no additional monthly charges for the pets (while other units with pets do).  They are in the largest, nicest unit and it is priced under market.  They also have no restrictions on the amount of vehicles they can have, and the contract specifically says that the tenant can cancel the contract at any time.  I know that if we purchase the property, we are supposed to honor the contracts that the previous landlord has with the tenants, but we are frustrated with this contract because of all the allowances and felt like they specifically made this contract the way it was so the child could have an easy, cheap place to live for the next year.  Does anyone have any ideas or advice on how to deal with this?  The contract would be up in September of 2019.  We are under contract but are still in due diligence.  Maybe this isn't a big deal and we just need to deal with it, but I'm concerned we are going to inherit a nightmare.