The law is against us in the UK. They were there 13 years, and agents tell us we cannot expect the kitchen to last longer than that. We didn't expect *everything* to be so damaged. They even cracked the new bath we installed in 2017.

But they say it's all fair wear and tear, and from what I hear the law allows for a lot of wear and tear... way beyond anything my husband and I create at home.

The carpets would have needed replacing anyway after that time, but it should be straightforward replacements.

It's the cat piss that really gets me, and the work involved in trying to eradicate the smells.

And the mould and awful decorative order was just depressing. We'd expected some light decorating, but not to have to scrape food off the walls and treat mould.

But again, mould is an area where we're challenged to prove it's them that caused the problem. And to prove it's not a problem with the house. We're pretty sure it's them because they had sopping wet washing hanging everywhere and just lived in a constant state of wet, which is what destroyed the kitchen. But it's hard to prove anything!

We never had a mould problem before, and now we've tidied up cleaned and decorated, there's no mould. They'd just turned it into a shithole. And for 13 years, the agents said they were good tenants, so for 13 years, no one batted an eye lid. Until we saw pictures after 12 and alarm bells started ringing.

All that just makes everything so much harder.

Also, I don't suppose they've got $12,000. But it would make a point!