Bad Lease Clause, Bad Landlord, What To Do?

Location: Kentucky, USA

I will start from the beginning.

I moved in in September 2024 under different ownership. I had a 6 month lease that rolled over into a month to month lease upon the ending of that six month period.

My current landlord acquired the property on which my unit sits in February 2025 (prior to this, a sale had fallen thru, so I actually paid February '25 rent not to my original landlord, nor to my current one, but to the person it was originally meant to be sold to in lieu of my current landlord). I paid my current landlord rent for the first time in March 2025. He met me in person to accept rent and provided me a receipt, the only time he has done so (although I keep all mine, and make copies).

He did not provide an updated lease at the time; this is the exact month at which my prior lease would have rolled into month-to-month, so I understand that because he didn't give me an updated one, that that's what it did, and it remained valid. He made comments about how he liked to "wait and see" who he "wanted to keep around" after he bought properties, before making new leases. He was pretty decent with me, and has been typically, but I understand I am the exception (I am visibly disabled and he saw this and shared with me when we met he is invisibly disabled, so I believe he's always just been a little more human with me than the rest). Others around say he is a nightmare to get to fix anything; one of my neighbors had a partially caved in ceiling from water damaged theyd been complaining about for months, and he supposedly ranted and raved about having to fix it when it caved. I experienced some of this when my hot water heater went out last summer; he didn't rant and rave with me, he was decent, but he sure drug his feet. I do believe he forgot about me, at one point. I didn't have hot water for 3.5, almost 4 weeks. Luckily since then I've had no major issues.

Now, he has decided to provide new leases. My previous lease (and everyone else who lived here when they took over) had been a 6 month lease that rolled into month-to-month. Since I wasn't provided a new lease, it was my understanding my old lease was still valid and continuing to roll month to month under the new ownership. I had looked into it at the time, because I wondered if that was legal. It didn't seem to be. It seemed to me that he had 30 days to provide me a new lease or the old would be the default, after that time. But I told myself at the time I'd cross that bridge when I got to it, that I'd look the new one over when the time came that he tried to give one, and reassess then.

Unfortunately for my landlord, I'm not one to sign anything I don't read, and I don't really trust this guy, so I read it over a couple times and sure enough, I found something I'm not to keen on. The problem with the new lease is that there is a part which states that "...Landlord [also] provides major maintenance over $100 per KRS 383" and below it "Tenant provides minor maintenance under $100 per KRS 383".

He does not specifically which part of KRS 383 but I do believe he means KRS 383.635. Which, to my understanding, that is not at all what that statue means.

Am I lacking in reading comprehension, or does this statue not mean that if something breaks and he fails to repair something in a timely manner, I can notify him of my intent to have it repaired myself and deduct it from the rent, either under 1. $100 or 2. Half my rent (and in my case, since half my rent is the greater amount, it would need to be under half my rent). It seems more like a statement on my right as a tenant rather than a statement of my obligation to repair anything under $100. But maybe whatever this dude is smoking is giving him smarticles and understandings I just can't access as a sober person.

What do I even do? Do I just sign it and deal with it later if it's ever an issue? Do I screw myself if I do sign it? I am not super keen on the idea of going "hey man, this isn't legal, revise it or I'm not signing". But I also don't understand what, exactly, my rights are if he says "alright, then don't sign it, you can leave" (which is what I have a feeling he may very well do). Can he do that? Am I under any real legal obligation to sign this in the first place? I understand enough to understand this is at least kind of wrong, maybe very wrong, but not what my potential recourse here is.

I would also like to note, as an aside to all this, he decided last summer (I believe in May) he was going to charge everyone and extra $25 for lawn care. I can barely walk with mobility aids, I need a wheelchair often, so I needed my lawn mowed. He tried to have us "roll it" into our rent but I pretty much just didn't do that, but I did still pay it. Instead, I purchased a separate money order for $25, and made it out specifically as for the lawn care. I do not trust this guy and I did not want to do anything to indicate I agreed to my rent arbitrarily going up $25 with no actual paperwork. Not really central to the post, but I find it noteworthy.