We left our rented house of 2 years and agreed with the landlord there were a few bumps and bruises and we'd take responsibility for them from the deposit he'd taken from us when we moved in. Some could possibly be put down as wear and tear but we'd not argue it.

Should still get most of it back though right? No he's now in fact claimed for all our deposit (just over £650) and says we owe him a further £200 so can we write him a cheque? Reading through it and some of his claims seem to be taking the piss.

Eg a glass plate on an IKEA wardrobe door got damaged. Cost £50. Cost to us: £127.80
"Time for removal of damaged door, ( a joiner’s rate at £20 per hour) £20 and mileage (40p per mile) £3 to tip for disposal of same, time £30 and mileage £4.80 to IKEA for purchase of new door £50, labour time £20 for fitting."

It's an IKEA door, it fits with 4 screws FFS!

This proceeds for a few items - 2 of which I'd complained about as faults that were never fixed and somehow its ballooned into £876.60 more than half of which is "time". I think it's BS, he's trying to make a profit out of this. I've built plenty of IKEA furniture before and its never taken me 1 hour to fit 1 door, and I wouldn't call a joiner in to do it. Nor would he, he's done it himself and wants £70 for "time".

Glad to be in my own home now where we take responsibility for ourselves only, but any advice? From what I think is fair he'd owe us a few hundred back, yet he's asking me to pay a few hundred to him. He's even written a cheeky remark at the end of his list about how he's not claimed for time for some items, eg changing light bulbs. I replaced all the light bulbs in the house (which had all blown in the main sockets, only lamps worked in most rooms by the end as I'd given up changing bulbs every few weeks). A week before we moved out I changed them all only for them 4 to blow again in the following week. At the time we had an unresolved electrical fault where the shower fan wasn't working. Even still what would he do, charge £20 for the 4 bulbs. Just makes me worried that if I try to challenge it he'll try to do that.

I can just imagine it: "Time for removal of bulbs, ( an electrician’s rate at £20 per hour) £20 and mileage (40p per mile) £3 to tip for disposal of same, time £30 and mileage £4.80 to ASDA for purchase of new bulbs £3, labour time £20 for fitting." Total £80.80 (£3 of it parts)