Hi all, I am new to this website and apologise if I am posting a thread which is already available or posting it in wrong place. I rented a one bedroom furnished property on Assured Shorthold Tenancy which was initially for 6months and then was converted on monthly roll on basis. In total I was in the property for 2years and due to work I had to move out of the property after giving 1months notice. I rented the property through a letting agent who was also responsible for managing that property. When I moved into the property the agency provided me with a check in inventory (prepared by the agency itself) which looks more biased, and I then made a copy of that inventory and highlighted the condition of the items which I think wasn't right in accordance to the inventory prepared by the agency and emailed them the inventory with my notes on it. The agency never replied me back about my notes on the inventory but decided to do some work on the property like carpet cleaning which I had highlighted in the check in inventory. I left the property on 26th March after giving one months notice, at the time I left the property the agent came and did an exit inventory along with me and we check the items one by one together. He said the property was in good condition apart from few minor issues like I had accidently broken a flower vase whilst cleaning the property,dust behind the sofa part of the wall above sink had some minor stains etc. After couple of days moving out from the property I rang the agency and asked him the status on my deposit and how much they are planning to deduct from my deposits for the items which I agreed at the exit inventory stage. He said he is looking in to it and will email me the details with tradesmen costs/estimates. On 12th April, he sent me another exit inventory which was totally different than the one I signed when I left the property. In this inventory he stated that the worktop had some knife marks therefore the whole work top needs to be replaced and then also mentioned that the bathroom tub had a patch mark (which was always there) and needs whole bath tub replacing plus some other minor issues and said the estimates and tradesmen costs will follow on soon. Immediately I replied to that email with explanation on why I do not agree to those items and also wrote in that email items which I agree and asked him to provide the estimate/ breadown of the cost. The agent replied to my email on 19th April stating “Hi, We have received your email regarding the deposit, I am speaking with DPS, the landlord and the tradesmen (quotes) I will reply to your email after the above, and no later than mid afternoon Monday 23 April 2012”. I did not get any reply from the agency on the 23rd no emails, no calls nothing. Then I decided to call him on 24th to check why they did not send me any information. The agent said he is speaking to the landlord and he will get back to me as soon as possible. On 26th April I called him again and said I need to know what’s happening with my deposit, he said landlord is taking time to come back and asked me to email him the items which I agree to pay and he will take it from there on. I sent him an email immediately on 26th listing all the items which i agree to pay for, this is what I emailed to the agent “Further to our recent telephone conversation please find below the items which I agree to pay, with estimated cost infront of each item included. 1) Wall above the kitchen sink had some minor stains, agree that part to be re-painted (£50 incl. VAT). 2) Dust behind sofa (only) in lounge. which I forgot to vaccum clean it at time of leaving the property (£10 incl. VAT). 3) 1 flower vase broken (£20 incl. VAT). 4) Top drawer of the freezer has slightly broken near the handle (£20 incl. VAT). 5) Minor mould on the bath tub grouting only (£10 incl. VAT). In total I agree to pay £110 (incl VAT) towards repair/replacement of the above items. The above rates are generally more than the average market prices. I paid a deposit of £615 and if you deduct £110 as per above then remaining money would be £505. I would be grateful if you could arrange to release the remaining amount of £505 of my deposit within 7days from today” The agent did not reply to my email at all, on 8th May I decided to send him an email threatening to take court action if my deposit is not returned, and called him back yesterday to check whether he received the email or not. He said the landlord has incurred more cost and asked me to take the case with DPS dispute resolution team and he also said that he will send me the breadown of the expenditure which has not sent to me yet. I have never come across any agency like this before, now I dont know what to do and would be grateful if somebody in this forum could help me with my case as I have never been to DPS or court in my life and have no idea on whether what I did till date would favour me or not. I would be grateful if anybody in this forum can help me and suggest what should I do next, I have the copy of the check in inventory which I wrote my notes on but it does not have the agents signature on it. I forgot to take photographs when I left the property because I thought we agreed to what needs to be replaced at the time when the agent did the exit inventory. Your help would be much appreciated Thanks