Nyc Landlord Demanding We Pay Back Rent Based On A Lease They Never Sent Us. Is This Legal?

Background: We live in an NYC rent stabilized unit, however since our initial lease lapsed in 2022, we have not received a new lease and have continued to pay our same rent, on time, every month.

Last year: in December 2024, uur landlord said they wanted to raise the rent 8% for 2024. We pushed back saying that wasn't allowed based on rent stabilization guidelines. We had a back and forth about what amount was correct and legal, but we told our landlord to send over the lease. Our plan was to review it with housing advocates and figure out how to push back. But the landlord never send over a new lease. We figured they forgot or didn't want to bother with us causing a fuss. So we continued to pay our same rent, on time, every month for all of 2024.

Today: We received a message from our landlord saying they noticed a "discrepancy" in our rent and we hadn't been paying what was "agreed to" for a rent increase. However, we never agreed to anything. We just asked that a draft of a lease be sent to us and when it wasn't, just continued to pay what we always have. They said we would need to pay this discrepancy in backrent for the entire year of 2024.

This can't be legal right? Without a lease there is no rent price to "agree to." We've just been paying what we've always paid until our landlord sends a new lease, which they never have.