Seller removed a tree before closing. Now city is delaying permit

[Alice Huang]

Hey BP community!

Back at it again and looking for some insight. Maybe someone has experienced this.

We are in the middle of permit processing from the City and a tree removal issue is holding us back (San Antonio, TX is a tree preservation city.. or something along those lines)

Facts on the current situation are as follows:-

We (the new owner) are held liable for the penalty on tree removal prior to permitting approval and the mitigation fee as we are the ones processing the building permit currently. (We applied for a new construction permit and one of the steps was to ensure tree canopy was preserved to a certain percentage)

The seller (previous owner) was the one who did the tree removal

Tree removal was done prior to our lot acquisition

The seller acknowledged that all fines and penalties were paid in line with the tree removal PRIOR to acquisition.

But city is holding us (the new owners) liable for it since the fines are associated with the lot.

Not asking for legal advice but just wanting to see if someone has experienced something similar? TIA