Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

If you have a lease, what you saw at the time you rented as common area should be and remain common area -- including yards, porches, stairs, access to storage lockers, etc. Unless the lease says the landlord has the right to modify or eliminate them.... You need to look at your lease first. You should ask your landlord what gives, and that you expected the yard, etc. to remain a yard for the kids based on the way you rented the apartment. And if she's getting extra money from this new tenant because if that's the case why didn't she come to you first? If the landlord disputes your right to use the yard, etc. or says the lease gives her the right to modify those areas and rent them out as private space, you can say, look, it was a yard we could use when we signed the lease so as far as we're concerned it should remain shared until the end of our lease, then you can do anything you want. Similar as to the basement if in fact part of your lease is a storage locker there -- you have the right to access it throughout the lease if you had the right at the beginning. And so she might want to reconsider doing something that she'll regret, and then walk away and give her a couple of days to digest the situation......? If she still is a problem you may need to have an attorney write a letter, or if the situation becomes intolerable you may have to consider suing her for breach of lease, or risk a lawsuit or eviction from her by cutting the rent down to what you think the place is worth without those spaces. But make sure you put all your points down in writing when you see her, just before you walk away, saying something like here's my points I wrote them down because it's that important -- you may even suggest that before she does something she'll regret she should talk to an attorney too. Since it may be highly improbable to quantify the loss of value here, an attorney could help you decide whether you could get an injunction. All depends on how much hell you want to risk enduring from her if the point is that she can get a few extra bucks from this new tenant.

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