Legal? Tenant putting cameras in laundry room?

[Brie Schmidt]

So I have a 3 flat with 1 tenant who is just causing problems.  They are all in leases till June and he pays, so nothing I can do.  But for the last 6 weeks it has been one thing after another and recently he thinks someone stole his laundry from the laundry room. So I talked to everyone and did set laundry days for each unit to solve the problem.  Today is his day and there is now a camera in the laundry room with a note that says "you are being recorded."

Putting aside the sheer pettiness of this drama - is this legal?  The laundry room is off the first floor unit at their back door.  They are concerned specifically if it records audio, which is a valid concern.  I am obviously going to talk to him about it but wanted to know my position first.

This is Chicago so do you know @Mark Ainley @Bob Floss II

[Joe Splitrock]

@Brie Schmidt if there are issues over disappearing laundry, it is probably good if there it a camera there. That being said, the camera should be viewed and controlled by you as the property owner. That way you can monitor his behavior too. I would tell him that he needs to remove the camera and you will install one instead. Just ask permission to use one of your tenants wifi. Let them know you will only review footage if damage or theft is reported. There should be no expectation of privacy in common areas of multifamily.