Hello, We've recentely moved out of the house in London that we rented for 6 months (3 girls). We've been renting via agency, but had to deal with the landlady as well (meet her, talk through the conditions, etc.). When moving in, we paid the whole rent upfront since we didn't have the guarantors + the deposit of 6 weeks rent (£1980). The landlady seemed nice and kind - she was keen on helping us settle in London, was interested in our lives. She was so friendly she even left her food for us in the fridge (Though I guess she was just too lazy to clean it up). She also asked us to allow store some of her packed bags in storage unit - we agreed, since she seemed nice. The house wasnt very clean, there were personal items lying around.. When we were provided with an inventory sheet, it seemed fine, major things listed. we didnt make any adjustments. During the tenancy we had an issue with mice - really bad one. Neither the agency nor the landlady took any action (she was hard to reach, since she was abroad). Couple of months we were dealing with that and got rid of it ourselves. The tenancy agreement finished, we left the house clean (way more clean than we found it, we had it professionally cleaned). I was attending the check out of the inventory, which was ridiculous. It wasn't done by the same company as the check - in so it was up to a different standard. They literally counted stratches on the walls, that wasn't listed before and was just described as 'worn' or 'requires light cleaning' in the check in sheet. We just received the letter from the landlady, listing all the damages (even the ones that were once we moved in but were not listed on the inventory sheet for some reason. Personally, I just wasnt sure how detailed it should be done). She is asking for around £3500 pounds to cover damage costs out of which over £2000 is for paint, wallpaper and stuff. That just shocked me. First of all, the house was left in a really good condition. Second of all, what kind of damage can be done by only living there for 6 months?? (No massive house parties or similar)?? It just seems that the landlady wants to completely redecorate the flat and is trying to use our money for that. First thing I did, I checked if our deposit was protected. DPS says that it was registered, but hasn't been protected yet. What can we do about it? Does it mean that we can actually sue her for that? I agree that there were couple of small things that were supposed to be charged for, but nothing like £3500. What is the next step we should take? Can we actually go to court and claim money for not protecting our deposit, or should we just write a letter to the landlady stating the deposit wasn't protected and ask for the refund? And since the check-in and check-out were done my different companies, could we disagree with the detail they stated in the check out sheet? Thank you Violeta