Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York

We lived in our 2nd floor apartment for 11 years. It was not until October 2013, where everyone, including the 1st floor and basement tenants also families who lived here in the past, received letters from Kings County Supreme Court stating we are in danger of losing our home and they were trying to foreclose a mortgage. The landlord had "20 days" to respond to this letter or he could lose the house. For years, we heard the landlord was in jeopardy of losing this house but still we continued to pay rent up until October 2013 when we received this letter that confirmed all the speculations we had. So we basically told him, we don't want to hold the rent, BUT, we also cannot pay him without proper documentation that he is in fact keeping the house. Whether it was right or wrong to do that, he accepted it. He didn't collect Octobers rent. In the beginning of November, he contacts us again, asking if we were going to pay rent. We answered, as soon as you show us proof you actually made an attempt to fix this problem with Kings County court, we will be more then happy to give you October's AND November's rent. He told us I guess I have no choice but to start the eviction process. And we kindly told him, "do what you have to do". Monday, December 2nd, a man knocks on our door stating he is the new landlord. Rude man who doesn't even properly introduce himself, just gave us a business card and letter stating the property was sold and the deed was transferred on Nobember 15th, 2013. He also said he was there to collect rent from October, November, and December. My question is, is he entitled to October and November rent? If the deed was transferred to him November 15, we was never notified by our former landlord nor our new landlord until Dec 2nd. During October and November we basically had no landlord. We had no heat until the week of thanksgiving, forcing us to use 3 different electric heaters. Our hot water would waste in 5 minutes. We actually had to renovate our own kitchen before thanksgiving because the landlord did not keep up his agreement in fixing our kitchen. There are many things that were suppose to be fixed, some we did ourselves, with our own money and labor. The new landlord seen in the bathroom there was a little water leaking, and instead of saying we need to get this fixed, he said if the water bill is too high, were going to have a problem. I'm not sure what should we do? If we should hire a lawyer or go to court. Is he entitled to October and November rent? What could we do about the "fixes" the old landlord was suppose to make? Any information would greatly be appreciated.

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