Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Not having to paint doesn't mean not having to clean, and if your splatter made it impossible to clean then painting may have been the landlord's only option. However, there are insufficient facts here. Was there a security deposit? Did the landlord return it? How soon after you left? Depending on how many units in the building there are, the landlord may have handled it properly or improperly. And even without a security deposit, there could be other factors, the key one being whether the landlord waived its right to inspect, which you essentially are proposing was the case based solely on the email. With that kind of money at stake, and what it could do to your credit rating, it would be my thought to take your lease, if you had one, or the situation as it was, to an attorney for at least a basic review and opinion.