Q. We vacated an apartment in Chicago three months prior to the end of our lease. We moved 1,000 miles away. We paid the lease up to the end. I gave written permission for our landlord to show the apartment starting the month after we moved. Three weeks later, I still had keys and flew back to finish moving and cleaning. When I arrived, I discovered they had painted the apartment. Did they have a right to go in to paint?

The office told me they found two cigarette holes in the bedroom carpet and they are charging us for that. Neither my husband nor I smoke. When we did the original move-in walk through, we did not notice any cigarette holes.

A. You are legally in possession of the unit until the lease expires as long as you keep the rent current and retain the keys, or do not inform the landlord that you have moved out. Written permission to show the unit is not permission to paint it.

The permission letter could be understood to mean you were gone after the first of the next month, thus technically abandoning the apartment and turning control back to the landlord. Abandonment does not release you from the obligation to pay rent until the lease ends.

The issue is the landlord entering the apartment, re-occupying it, removing your remaining possessions, and repainting it. Except in an emergency or a necessary repair, painting without tenant permission during the lease is not allowed.

Entering the unit without two days advance warning violates the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. Remedies for unlawful entry include the tenant terminating the lease with a 14-day letter of notice and collecting court-order damages of one month's rent or twice actual damages, whichever is greater.

Unless you have a lease termination fee agreement, demand back pre-paid rent for the months the unit was re-rented. The landlord is allowed to charge you advertising costs. Because of the illegal entry, ask for the statutory damages.

The move-in inspection showing no carpet burns could be interpreted that the cigarette burns occurred later. Since you do not smoke, that might allow you to raise a theory that the landlord's employees or prospective tenants caused the damage after you left.

Seek a tenants' rights lawyer to do all this. Otherwise, give up part of your deposit and all the pre-paid rent.

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