Hello all. First post here. I am moving out of a flat that I rented for one year. My landlady, who always came across as a relaxed, reasonable person up until now, has recently transformed into the Incredible Hulk. I know she has lied to me about a number of things, and is now trying to claim money for changes my flatmates and I made with her VERBAL () agreement (which she now denies having given). She becomes very angry whenever I ask whether she's going to produce receipts and invoices for expenses she claims against our damage to the property. I don't hold out much hope for our deposit: at the very least, it's going to be an uphill battle to get any of it back. I was talking about this situation to a lawyer friend, and he asked me what sort of deposit protection scheme my landlady was using. When I told him 'none', he gleefully rubbed his hands and told me she was in breach of the Housing Act, and a court would certainly order her to pay 3 times the amount of the original deposit. This seemed like a magic bullet. However, when I tentatively raised the issue of a protection scheme with my landlady, she told me that because our rent exceeded £25000 p.a., she was not obliged to place the deposit in such a scheme - indeed, it was impossible for her to do so. Our tenancy agreement, apparently, is 'non-Housing Act.' Is this true? Or just more lies? On current form, I don't trust a word she says.