Exactly! I said if they paid this bill there would be no more bills and no legal action, so I must keep to that.

I sent them a list of about £1500 of damage to get their deposit back in April, along with a receipt for the £300 spent on materials so far (at that time). The deposit was £384 after the oven cleaner had been paid.

It's one of those situations, where I don't think I could get things that aren't receipted, and to some extent, we'd expect to do some decorative work - so it's a question of what's reasonable for them to contribute.

I think we've got all we can now. They should have done more to rectify it, but I don't want the stress of court action and they won't pay thousands. They've been arguing fair wear and tear for the past two years.

Frankly, it was nice to get £196!