Q. I asked my landlord repeatedly over four weeks to make repairs to a ceiling that caved in from a water leak in the upstairs apartment. The walls and ceiling are exposed. She argued about it, saying the repairs were "our fault." She does not fix things or she does a poor job. I called the city inspector.

Now she is retaliating against me by saying that I can no longer use the basement for storage. I have been using it for the past three years. What recourse do I have? I just want to get out of this lease. I would appreciated some compensation for the loss of my storage space in the basement.

A. The collapsed ceiling and exposed wall can easily render your unit not reasonably fit nor habitable. Under the provisions of the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, you can terminate your lease if the landlord fails to adequately correct these conditions after receiving from you a written notice to cure the condition with 14 days. The city inspector's report needs to confirm the seriousness of the conditions.

It challenges logic how the downstairs occupant is responsible for an upstairs water leak. Even if your neighbor was negligent, it is the landlord's duty to insure the repairs are properly and promptly made.

The Chicago tenants' rights ordinance allows the landlord to hold the negligent tenants responsible to make or pay for the repairs. Their security deposit and even court action are the reimbursement options.

After three years, whether the storage is written in the lease or not, it is implicitly part of it. Suddenly denying the storage following a complaint to the city could be retaliation as defined in the ordinance. The penalty for this could be a court-ordered payment to you of two month's rent plus your lawyer's fees.

Send questions to mediator Ed Sacks at Apartment Watch, Homelife, Sun-Times, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago, IL 60654.