There is a term in her tenancy agreement that says...if the inventory is not returned within 7 days then it will be deemed to be true and correct, but we were not given it in the first place. Does she have us there? It is her own tenancy agreement. We have found a document on the web from the office of unfair trading stating unfair terms in tenancy agreements and there are loads of hers in it.

Hello, My partner and I are currently in dispute with our ex-landlady about the return of our security deposit. We moved out at the end of Aug 2006 and the landlady kept £1200. She claims £485 was for cleaning (even though she quoted us £260 for this), £385 is for interest incurred for 3 days late rent and the rest for various bits, missing/damaged items. When we moved in there was not inventory taken and when we moved out she did not do a check-out with us. The items she claims were damaged/missing is completely fabricated, but where do we stand without an inventory? We have written to her several times disputing the ammount for cleaning and pointing out the error of her late interest calculations, which we worked out to be 35p per day. (10% per annum) We have also requested receipts for all which she has failed to send us on all counts. She is a senior solicitor and has responded with various legal treats if we take her to small claims court, which we have threatened. We just need some advice as to whether to proceed to small claims as we're not sure we should take her on? We feel very strongly that her actions are wrong but also feel intimidated by her legal status. Any help/advice?