Chicago has a pretty good renters rights policy, tom. Definitely check it out, because I'm guessing that they're the ones in violation, not you.

In more random news, msbelle, did you know that Rich from fourfour (also the VH1 blog) has a twitter that is all about what song is in his head? Because he does.

They say they couldn't treat the bedbugs properly because I had too much stuff and my apartment was messy.

Does your lease specify an amount of stuff that's the maximum a tenant can have? If not, they can't evict you for "too much stuff" unless it's an actual danger. *And* you made HUGE efforts in good faith to help them out, by getting rid of half your stuff.

Now they're saying it's my fault some other tenants are leaving.

They can be annoyed at you, but, again, they'd need proof that there could be NO other reason that the tenants were leaving.

Chicago has a pretty good renters rights policy, tom. Definitely check it out, because I'm guessing that they're the ones in violation, not you.

Totally. At the very least, it buys you time to apartment-hunt, unstead of having to rush and have it done in 30 days.

Start here, tommyrot: [link]

(Ever since I had a crazy landlady who tried to keep the entire deposit because we didn't dust the windowsills when we moved out, I've been a crusader for tenants' rights.)

This is a link about bedbugs in Chicago: [link] The grey bar in the middle of the pages has "what to do if you have bedbugs" info, and several of them seem salient:

Landlords must contract with an experienced, licensed, trained pest management professional.

Tenants must receive and follow an integrated pest management plan designed by their pest management professional.

DO NOT throw out your furniture unless instructed to do so by your pest management professional.

And the city of Chicago has a bedbug FAQ: [link]

Landlords must contract with an experienced, licensed, trained pest management professional.

afaik, they've been doing that for a few months.

Tenants must receive and follow an integrated pest management plan designed by their pest management professional.

They gave me this. They say I didn't follow the instructions, which was true to some extent at first because I had so much stuff in my small 1-bedroom apartment.

I'm just dreading going to court, mainly.

I do not know Rich or what fourfour is, but that twitter sounds awesome. I wish I had a cell phone acct that made twitter a possibility.

Speaking of asshole landlords, my former apartment is trying to charge me $25 for the hole in the wall. WHICH THEIR MAINTENANCE GUY MADE.

Um, NO. There will be words. It's only $25, but I will do one last battle with them. And they will refund the remainder of the laundry card, damnit.

They say I didn't follow the instructions, which was true to some extent at first because I had so much stuff in my small 1-bedroom apartment.

Did the instructions have a time frame for you to get rid of your stuff? I just really feel like the burden of proof is on your landlords.