Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

We want to countersue our landlord for harassment, negligence and defamation.
In October, we gave a written notice that we were going to withhold rent. In response, our landlord filed an eviction and increased her actions of harassment.
My husband and I moved in to a house in St Louis City in February. We signed a lease in January that included a lead paint clause but was not given the EPA Lead Paint Pamphlet that is required upon move in. We were told there were two lead paint locations but were not told the severity of the errosion. Our landlord gave a simple response as, "It's not chipping so it is not dangerous." We have a newborn baby. I was 2 months pregnant when we moved in and the landlord just covered one of the areas in October. The timeline of repairs has been insulting and we feel that our health has been jeopardized. There is more to our case including various other repairs requests that were ignored such as non functioning outlets and light fixtures, a leaking roof, doorknob replacements (some doors don't open/close), a non functioning fireplace, shelving and cabinetry installation in our kitchen, and an unkempt yard.
In addition to all of this, our landlord has been harassing us by installing locks on our personal storage, installing locks on the unit�s laundry machines, yelling obscenities, sending insults through text, posting insults on social media, turning the water and electricity off twice without advanced notice, and calling the police.
We need help finding the appropriate motions to file to counter sue along with any additional case advice. Thank you in advance!

Asked on 2/15/16, 2:08 pm

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0 attorneys agreed

Get a local attorney to help you find a way to move out if at all possible. This is crazy.

Answered on 3/26/16, 10:29 am

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