Had a closing a week ago on a duplex.  The prior owner was one that gives a bad name to landlords, I'll leave it at that.  Him and his Realtor were more excited about the cookies and coffee than the documents at hand, as they dipped the cookies into the coffee.

During closing, he said he was going to stop by and get a snow blower that the tenants were using to clear snow in the winter that was his.  He did stop by and grab it, but my question is since it was there at closing should that have been ours?  There was no mention of it either for or against it being ours anywhere, but if he didn't grab it before he signed it over to us wouldn't he have been trespassing to get it since it was never stated anywhere that he was going to take it prior to closing?

Second thing, he was mad beyond belief that the tenants had failed to pay the water bill and it was being deducted on the closing statement from his proceeds (about $2000 worth), again 100% not a good landlord.  He said he was going to go after the tenants for it, would he legally be able to go after the tenants after selling the property though?  Technically he transferred the leases/tenants (which were verbal... ) to us, seems like he should have been more on top of the unpaid bills prior to closing. 

I just have to say that these poorly managed ones are my favorite to target buying, since verbal leases / nothing on paper takes away all investment value so in my area I can always get the units at a way better price.

@John K., I like your strategy for acquiring your rentals. The duplex should be a nice cash cow for you. Was there any mention of personal property on the contract? Would probably need to run that by an attorney in that case.

Make sure you change all the locks so he does not come back looking for more stuff to take @John K.  Or to harass the tenants.

@John K.  

I would have said the snow blower was yours since possession is 9 tenths of the law. Now that he has it, no idea. As for the water, unless you took control of all prior liens or it was specifically with the property. I would say that it is a debt owed specifically too the landlord. Since he doesn't have a lease or binding written contract. It is going to be hard for him to "prove" the money is owed to him. Those are just my thoughts but the water shouldn't affect you.