Previous owner took COVID relief

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Hello, I'm dealing with a tricky situation and wondering if anyone else can provide thoughts.

I purchased a quadplex in December 2021. At the time one of the tenants was not paying rent and I came to find out that they did not pay rent for the entirety of 2021. My property manager worked with the tenant to get them government relief, but the city sent the funds to the previous owner, this was for all of 2021 through february, so 3 months of rent while I was the actual owner. The previous owner has now cashed the almost 15k check and is refusing to return the funds saying that it is their money from when they owned the property; however, I am under the impression that upon purchasing the property I also own all liabilities, debts, etc so the money should be mine. I'm waiting a return call from my attorney about this, but I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with this or if anyone has an opinion about who might be right in this situation.

TIA