Recently Bought A House And After Closing I Realized The Sellers Had Removed A Fig Tree

Location: Texas

I closed on a house a couple of weeks ago. I knew the sellers and dealt with them directly throughout the process. When I initially went to the house to see it in person there was a fig tree at the end of the driveway. The husband talked about how good the figs were and I told him I was excited to have one in my yard. Fast forward a few months and a couple of week after we closed I realized that that fig tree was gone.

I texted the sellers and asked them what happened to it. It turns out they gave it to the wife's sister. They told me that after the freeze we had the tree wasnt doing very well so they had a local nursery put it in their "nursery ICU" and her husband has back issues so he couldn't unload so they had to give it to her sister. They told me that they assumed the tree was as old as the house (they arent the original owners) so 20 years old or so. I called a local nursery and the oldest fig tree they could get was 11-13 years old. That would cost $2500 to have it delivered and id have to hire someone else to plant it. Who knows what a 20 year old fig tree would cost.

Dealing with these people has been a nightmare throughout this process. They absolutely refuse to communicate about anything and act so entitled. I've jumped though hoop after hoop to accommodate them and this is the last straw. You don't get to use that tree as a selling point and then give it away to your sister. The contract clearly states that trees are included unless specifically excluded.

My question is does it matter that I didn't notice until after closing? I'd have to go back and check my texts but it was 7-10 days before i realized it was gone. I did a walkthrough the night before closing and i didnt catch it in the dark. The walkthrough was supposed to be the next morning, but the sellers decided to leave town the night before without saying a word to me so i had to rush over there directly from the airport to meet with them.