UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi I wonder if anyone could give me advice? I'm a relatively new landlord, I rented out my old family home 2 years ago. My first tenants were a dream, no problem. My second has been a nightmare on leaving, I received an email requesting early leave from property due to change in circumstances. I have previously allowed 3 late payments. I complied with the early request & the house will have a new tenant in 3 days. 2 days ago I attended the property handover with leaving tenant. On inspection I was dismayed at the general uncleanliness of the property but put it down to general wear & tear & verbally agreed to refunding deposit in full. Tenant left & I discovered broken freezer drawer & bad staining of carpet which had been covered by a table. Tenant had previously said freezer drawer was in friends Mums dishwasher but I found it broken in kitchen cupboard. After texts we agreed to £60 deducted from the deposit registered with the DPS for broken freezer drawer & to cover some of the costs for carpet cleaning. Later that day, we discovered fleas in the house, a bone in the garden & makeshift barricading in the garden obviously erected to stop an animal escaping. I contacted pest control & arranged a treatment which cost £100. I sent tenant message saying I would be adding the £100 to the agreed £60. Tenant has contacted me stating I'm fabricating the whole thing, she's never had an animal at the house & me or my partner have brought the fleas in with us on handover day. Amazed at her attitude really. It's now with the TDS & I have to compile evidence for my claim of £160. I had pest control at the property today who confirmed the infestation & ive got a receipt for £100 for the treatment. Has anyone been through anything like this before & what are my chances of success? I have photos of the barricade, bone in garden & obviously the receipt from the pest treatment company. I don't have a check out list as initial assessment was verbal & ive been naive & too trusting of my tenant. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

There's no advice to give if it's with the ADR process of the deposit protection scheme. You have done all that you can and it will depend on the evidence you have. You'll get an outcome that you can both abide by. Waiting game now.

Were there no periodic inspections during the course of the tenancy?  Most of these problems would have come to light during those.