Rent sent to previous owner after closing

[Mohamed Zoweil]

Hey everyone,

I closed on a new property on February, the tenant sent March rent by mistake to the previous owner, who refused to send it to me, saying that this covers  the tenant's past owed rent.

I have an email from the tenant stating that this amount was intended to pay March rent, so I think that the owner has no right to apply it to the previous rent owed, since it's not his money.

Do you think I have grounds for taking a legal action based on the tenant email?

Thanks

[Kyle J.]

Should be pretty simple as far as you’re concerned. The tenant still owes you March rent. It’s not your fault he paid someone else, and I wouldn’t get in the middle of that. The appropriate action for you to take is to serve the tenant with a Pay or Quit notice for March rent. Since it’s already April, I wouldn’t wait any longer.