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