N.Y. LIE Law § 7

§ 7. Liability for advance payments, collusive mortgages and\nincumbrances. Any payment by the owner, contractor or subcontractor upon\na contract for the improvement of real property, made prior to the time\nwhen, by the terms of the contract, such payment becomes due, for the\npurpose of avoiding the provisions of this article, shall be of no\neffect as against the lien of a subcontractor, laborer, or materialman\nunder such contract, created before such payment actually becomes due. A\nconveyance, mortgage, lien or incumbrance made by an owner of real\nproperty, for the purpose of avoiding the provisions of this article,\nwith the knowledge or privity of the person to whom the conveyance is\nmade or in whose favor the mortgage, lien or incumbrance is created,\nshall be void and of no effect as against a claim on account of the\nimprovement of such real property, existing at the time of the making of\nthe conveyance or the creation of such mortgage, lien or incumbrance.\n Nothing in this chapter shall subject the title of a purchaser of real\nproperty for value whose conveyance is recorded prior to the filing of a\nlien pursuant to this chapter to any such lien, provided the instrument\nof conveyance contains the provisions mentioned in subdivision five of\nsection thirteen.\n