Unpaid tax late fee. Who should/will pay.

[Mark Del Grosso]

So here is what happened.

  June 2014 I purchased a three unit bank foreclosure. September my school taxes were due and I paid in full. Last week I got a letter from the city treasurer that there was a unpaid late fee of $192.22 from the 2013 school taxes. I called the treasurer to tell them that I did not own the property in 2013, which she confirmed, but said the bank paid the taxes a month late and never paid the late fee. So I called my closing lawyer who said he would contact the bank to get them to pay the fee.

My question is what if the bank doesn't pay it? Should I ask my lawyer to pay since I am paying him to make sure these things are clean before the closing? Good luck with that, right.

Obviously it's only $192 and not worth having a lien, so in the end I will pay it if I must.

Any thoughts or similar situations?