Inheriting new tenants, last landlord didn’t stick to lease

[Josh Gibson]

Hello BP, I am closing on a duplex today. We are inheriting two new tenants.

The previous landlord worked out a deal with the tenants on one side of the duplex. Their original lease was $750 a month and somewhere down the line the new deal and updated lease states that they would get a $50 a month discount and the reason for that discount was that the tenant shall cut the grass and rake the leaves. I recently found out this week that the tenant has not cut the grass in three months and he is still only paying $700 a month.

My question is since it states in their lease that he is responsible for cutting the grass and leaves in order to get that $50 a month discount is he technically in violation of the lease? When I take it over today I’m going to have to address this. If he’s not cutting the grass that’s fine but I’m going to need to get the full $750 a month. I guess the reason I need to make sure that he’s in violation of the lease is so that I can cancel that lease because he’s in violation and write up a new lease with our name on it for the $750 a month instead of the $700 a month. Hope that makes sense!