I moved out of my rented flat on February 21st this year

I hadn't enjoyed a great relationship with the letting agents

Main areas of conflict were the level of cleanliness at moving in and being apalled at the decor, insisting on improvements and cleaning which never was done to my satisfaction and I told them so

The letting agent was horrified that I was being so exacting and asked me what I expected as "after all, this is only a standard flat" 

I'd also been careful to mark down all the damage, cigarette burns, stains and defects on the items in the inventory that they supplied to me

I also took photographs knowing in my heart of hearts that the day would come that I would be waiting for these nice people to return my £1000 that they'd insisted on prior to me moving in

During my tenure they failed to return calls, c(laiming not to have received them, not passing them amongst the four staff, not reading faxes, or acknowledgingmy personal visits, they also had a spell where their phones were not taking incoming calls) and getting them to attend boiler outages, blocked toilets et al was time consuming and a frustrating experience for me

Having said that, when the workmen did show up they were superb and would assure me that they'd only just been notified

Anyway by now I hope you've got the picture ...........

And to cut a long story short it's now April 5th

I've not received anything back of my £1000

and I'm now suing these nicepeople who have told me they are retaining £500 for additional cleaning and carpets

To add to my frustration they have gleefully left a message saying I should be suing the landlord (resident in Germany) and not them

So I'm having to change and re-start my court claim

And yes, I've had a conversation with the head honcho at the letting agent who informs me he was just about to make me an offer but as I'm taking action he won't

It was a very nice £1000

Ah Yes - I remember it well