Quick tennant's rights legal question

Something like 1.5-2 months ago, my apartment flooded. The hardwood floors warped pretty badly--there is a literal hill in my kitchen(maybe 6+ inches above grade), big warping everywhere else which has resulted in all of the trim getting pushed up through the drywall (and there looks like some drywall might have decided to rot). The unit is in Chicago and I have 11.5 months left on my lease.

My apartment managment company (who are known to be sort of scumbags) has yet to really do anything. A hardwood floor guy came and verified that the floors don't just need to be resurfaced but need full replacement (which is obvious to anyone). They decided they wanted to go with a tile floor since it is a ground floor unit to save money if it ever happens again (I'd prefer wood but I'll accept tile if they just get it done). Tile guy has been by at least 3 times while I am not home to inspect and measure--my maintenance guy who let him in told me that the work could be done by moving furniture from one side to the other as they lay the tile...just start on one side, do the first half, and move everything over to the other side.

I called today and they said they wouldn't do this and they would need me out of the unit--I could either move to another unit (they showed me some, all are worse than my current one AND significantly more expensive) or they would let me out of the lease. They said that the quote for fixing it with me in the unit is more expensive "then they are authorized to spend" with the added price of having to move stuff back and forth (I even said I'd move the damn furniture back and forth and they said they would try to negotiate with the tile guy).
I don't want to move since its not a great time for me to find a new place (I have tried and can't get something I like that meets my budget) and I am fine with everything except the floor in my current unit.

I am pretty sure they can't force me out of my lease so aren't they obligated to make these repairs even if they end up being more expensive?

Tomorrow, I want to send them a letter (which I should have done the day after the flood...) giving them 14 day notice to fix the problem before I start withholding rent. Based on what I have read (things like this and this ), if it were a minor repair like fixing the dishwasher, I could deduct the cost and pay for it myself. This is obviously a major repair and they would need to make it--it sounds like I can just pick a fair % and start withholding but I am not sure this won't land me in trouble.

What do I need to put in this letter? It is a real problem and I can declare it to be not fully habitable. I plan to make some note on the liability front (I've slipped on the steep slope in kitchen) since it is somewhat unsafe. What % should I withhold? The place is livable but pretty shitty so I feel a fair amount would be to pay whatever would seem reasonable as rent for the rest of my lease if the problem went unfixed--which would be about 50%.
It also mentions that you can sue to force them to make the repairs...but I think I would prefer the rent withholding route (although I should have started sooner since I have paid full rent on a piece of shit for both august and september already).


TL;DR
My apartment floor is messed up and the landlord has been jerking me around for 2 months--what do I do?

Thanks

as I read it, I have the right to break my lease anyways so they aren't really letting me out (they just want me to take the offer so they don't have to eat the costs so they phrase it nicely). The only problem is that it seems to be a really bad time to find an apartment here. I have been looking for myself and a bunch of my friends have looked for themselves and for some reason its a shitty time to be looking to rent. At minimum for a comparable place, I would be paying 20% more than I pay now (even after the rent hike I got this year) and the places my own land lord showed me in my building were even a bit more despite being legitimately shitty units (except they didn't have warped floors)...they were literally units I wouldn't live in for a discount on my current unit.

I'm sure harvey's right (and I know what good internet legal advice is) but since tenant/landlord things are fairly common I hoped someone would have some insight. Also, I am going out of town tomorrow and would like to submit a letter soon so that the 14 day notice period is up before october 1st (so I wouldn't have to wait until november to withhold rent).

So maybe I should rephrase my question into...does anyone know a lawyer who handles chicago landlord tennant situations? In all likelyhood, the 14 day notice on a lawyer's letterhead is probably enough to get the landlord to suck it up and make the repairs.
Barring that...anyone renting out any 1BR apartments in chicago soon???

Yeah, this is why I think they really just want me to leave (or move to a whittier but more expensive unit). The repairs will be a little cheaper but mostly they will be able to raise the rent a significant amount and rent it out to some new person.

I'm leaving town for a few days which makes it harder to deal with this but I've got a call in with the illinois tennant union who can help with this and refer me to a lawyer if needed