Wait, what?! Tenants Violated Lease and Want 2x Security Deposit?

[Stewart McMillan]

I recently had an issue with the power going out in a Chicago unit of mine. ComEd turned the power off due to non-payment(though ComEd never warned me or tenants which they are required to do by Illinois law), but I had the power back on well within 72 hours (business hours) which is the time limit Chicago gives landlords before tenants can terminate the lease.

After about 24 hours my tenants sent me a notice of intent to vacate 4 months before the end of their lease term, which would be allowed if 72 hours had elapsed, but they hadn't. 

So for some reason they use the power outage to justify not paying rent for the entire month of May. They're now two weeks overdue, and now they've hired one of those Security Deposit chasing attorneys to go after their deposit and the penalty for when landlords don't hold it in a separate account. I've never held it in a separate account because I've always had good relationships with my tenants and wasn't aware of that requirement until recently.

Even worse, now the tenants are saying that they can't move out at the end of the month(like they said they were going to in their Notice of Intent to Vacate) because they can't afford to because of the financial hardship related to the power outage. What?!? They didn't even leave the unit, they had heat, and some of their groceries went bad. I explicitly stated multiple times in emails that I would reimburse them $100/night for the outage plus $150 for groceries, but I would only reimburse them AFTER they paid rent. 

Can a tenant sue for 2x their deposit when they are in clear violation of their lease? I've done everything that I'm obligated to in the city of Chicago and more. The power outage was a screw up on my part but I've been very forthright with my tenants and have offered to pay for damages. 

Does anybody have any advice for how to get these people out of my unit? I've read the horror stories about the Chicago eviction process.

Thanks for any help!