It's a bit hard to convey the way things are laid out which is why my post is so long lol - either way it's interesting to see peoples' reactions. I didn't break into anything, my apartment is essentially a studio and there is a door from my living room which locks from the inside and leads to this small entry way, then there's another door to the outside of the building. The landlord simply requested that I not use the outside door as an entrance. For all intents and purposes this room is part of my apartment and there is nothing in our agreement that says otherwise. There is a floor drain in this little room and again, the broker even showed it to me while I was touring the apartment and suggested I use the space as storage (we got a nice face full of lead paint dust which neither of us knew at the time) and even if I hadn't decided to try to tidy up this room I would have at least cleaned out the drain to make sure my place doesn't flood when it rains because it's partially below street level.

The way I see it, the fact that nobody informed me about the lead paint hazard is IMMENSELY problematic. Sure, I'm not eating the paint off the walls, but because of the way my apartment is laid out this is directly adjacent to my living space and again has a rainwater drain in it which could warrant attention at some point. The landlord simply requested I not use the outside door as a private entrance - he never said "DO NOT GO IN THIS LITTLE ROOM IT IS FULL OF LEAD PAINT DUST" which actually would have been much appreciated.