Woman, 25, disputes £529 charge after leaving Edinburgh flat

She claims to have cleaned the flat thoroughly and says the agent has failed to prove marks on the doors are permanent, were caused by her, or warrant such a hefty bill.

Deposit disputes between Edinburgh tenants and landlords double over 4 years

“The fact that really annoys me about this is that it’s a business and it should be done right,” the 25-year-old, originally from Russia, told the Evening News yesterday.

“I’ve met so many people who left Scotland for different reasons but 80 percent of them didn’t get their deposit back.

“If they charge some extra money for some reason or some real damage and there’s legal papers, neither me or my friends would have any issues.

“I really hope things get better because Scotland is a really good country for people to come to.”

But Kevin Fraser of DJ Alexander said his firm’s disputes had more than halved in the last year from 20-25 percent in 2017 to nine percent in 2018.

Mr Fraser said photographs show “significant deterioration” on the doors of Miss Potapova’s former flat which was not just “wear and tear”.

After both sides exchanged correspondence but failed to reach agreement, the dispute looks like heading to adjudication.

Mr Fraser added: “We have our evidence and they [tenants] have theirs. We can’t resolve them all but that’s where we’re trying to get to. If we can’t, we let the scheme decide what’s reasonable and what’s not.”