Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Can't say primarily because there is no mention of whether there is a written lease. If there is, everything may change because landlord obligations and tenant rights may have been limited.

If there is NO written lease, there is still a question of whether it is a lease for a year, or month-to-month, or some other periodic basis.

Assuming it is an oral month-to-month lease or tenancy, it can be canceled on a month's notice (usually the rent payment date), for ANY reason, or NO reason.

If there is evidence that it is a longer lease (up to a year can be oral in Illinois), normal landlord/tenant obligations SHOULD apply unless there has been some shifting of these terms and that may be a problem from an evidentiary standpoint. This is why an attorney would want to sit down with your son and review the whole situation to give firm advice.

Assuming, however, there is an oral lease for a year with nothing in writing and nothing to say that any repair and/or maintenance obligations shifted to your son as tenant, then your son has really one option which is to give the landlord notice that if things aren't taken care of within a reasonable period of time (and for a leaky roof temporary fixes should be demanded) and tampering with his property stops (demand a specific parking spot if that came with the deal in the first place), your son may be stuck with moving out and claiming "constructive eviction". The notice to the landlord is only to firm up your son's position since nothing else is in writing, and it may also suggest that the next step would be to contact the local building department about code violations. BEWARE, however, if this landlord is as unstable as suggested, there is no telling what his reaction might be, which is why such a notice may best be coming from an attorney who has reviewed the situation in full. Depending on how things are, a phone call to the landlord may result in a negotiated move-out -- assuming there is any security deposit that could be in jeopardy.