Property Management w/ Lease In Place

[Joel Good]

Looking for insight on how to handle a situation. I recently started a property management company in South Carolina. Just picked up a client who is about to leave the country for a few years. She has rental house with tenant and lease already in place. The lease is specific to the owner (as landlord), and the tenant.

What is the best way to proceed from a legal document perspective? Can/should the existing lease be tweaked to include me as PM? Can/should the owner assign any rights as landlord to me?

The lease as currently specifically states that rental payments are to be wired to the owner's bank account. That needs to be changed to my escrow account. Also, my legal standing seems to be quite limited (perhaps even nonexistent) with the current lease. These are a couple of issues that I am trying to overcome.

Any thoughts/input would be greatly appreciated! I'm assuming this is not a new or unique situation...would guess that someone here has crossed this bridge before.