[Ceejache]

In my experience landlords can pretty much get away with anything they damn well please. Recently my girlfriend and I moved out and did everything by the book - but that didn't stop him keeping/stealing our £300 deposit. He came up with a list of absolute bull**** as reasons for this 'theft' - stuff like we had left some cleaning stuff under the sink (it was there when we moved in), the insides of cupboards weren't clean (they were a damn sight cleaner than when we moved in), the carpet was wet and going mouldy (we had a terrible leak which he had known about for 8 months and did nothing about it regardless of us asking him every week or so) and other such rubbish like we had taken a net curtain (when we moved out he told us to take whatever we wanted as he was selling the property) and other made-up cleaning issues (despite the fact he told us not to bother doing any cleaning as he was selling the property, regardless we cleaned the house from top to bottom) - basically the guy was a Class A ****er and a thief.

If you are moving into rented accomodation please do not expect your deposit to be returned - over the years I have lost around a grand in lost deposits, and I have always gone by the book and left the house as I found it. You haven't a leg to stand on - taking pictures when you move in is a good idea though, but not one that one think off until after you get stung two or three times!