[Tenant - NYC] Always paid rent on time, lawyer says I cannot pay Landlord rent going forward bc of State Law. Landlord threatens to evict, “or worse”

Hey all - wanted your thoughts as landlords because I want to understand what my landlord might do. I’ve always paid rent on time, left spaces clean, no noise complaints, etc.

I live in NYC and rent in a Condo. The unit owner has generally been nice. He is in default on his mortgage but it hasn’t really affected me.

I received a demand from a lawyer representing the Condo Board, saying the owner is past due on his Common Fees (3+ years) and that we must pay rent directly to them now to cover the landlord’s debt.

I spoke with a housing lawyer who cited NY State law 339-kk, which requires a renting tenant to pay rent to the Condo Board if the landlord is in default on Common Fees.

I told the landlord that under advise from the lawyer, I have to pay the Board. He sent a bunch of threats — he will evict me, tank my credit score, and do “worse”.

I don’t want a hostile landlord. I sympathize with his financial difficulties and have been accommodating, but I’m not paying double rent.

The NYState law seems ridiculous because now the Landlord thinks we are doing this to spite him. His Fees debt is large enough that he won’t receive any rent money during the next year of our lease, and he’ll probably lose the mortgage. I didn’t want to be part of any of this, and I even liked the guy before the threats.

What do you think he might do? I want to know what might happen because this whole thing is stressing me out and I find it absurd that the law is apparently putting ME in the position of paying the landlord’s debts, which he clearly has no intention of paying. It’s also making ME the ‘bad guy’ to the landlord, when I just want to pay my rent and live in peace.