NY State Landlord-Tenant Issues

I broke my lease on an apartment in NY by leaving 5 months early and moving to Minnesota. I had tried making arrangements with the landlord for payments but they did not keep an open line of communication and now they have an attorney. I was already served with a "Consumer Credit Transaction", which basically says that I must respond to their attorney within 30 days or I default.

Before this, I was informally contacted and I sent them a settlement offer and also pointed out that their math was wrong on the figures just basic addition errors. They had 5 months rent showing but multiplied it by 6. They ended up rejecting my offer and then I told them that I need proof that the unit I was stayin in was not rented or used by a contracter during any of the same time they are trying to charge me for by having the landlord sign a statement affirming to that. I requested that because account for my gas was never cancelled and the usage would indicate that someone was living in the apartment.I also requested that they provide me with receipts for the carpet because from my understanding carpert replacement is charged on a depreciation basis and the carpet was a few years old. They told me that they do not have to provide me any of that. My only options are to pay the amount, which they did not even change to correct for the basic math error when I was served or hire an attorney.

I live 1000 miles away, so going to court iin NY with an attorney is definitely not an option for me. Do I have any other options I can use? I think that they are trying to intimidate me because they know it's highly unlikely that I would hire an attorney and come all the way back to NY, so right now I feel pretty helpless.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

The way to challenge an amount owed would be to sue the LL in small claims court in the area of the rental. If you do not want to travel back there, you will have to negotiate a settlement. If they sue you in court for any amount, you will have to travel back there to defend yourself, or you will automatically lose.