When I was a student in Maastricht, the landlord was verbally informed that I am moving out. However when I sent an email after the notice period, they said no and started giving made up reasons on why that's not true and kept 2 months of my deposit.

I was a student then, and frankly too scared to hire a lawyer and take it to court. Now I am not a student, but it was 700 euros and it would still be nice to push it to court.

However, it has been 8 years almost at this point. Can I still take this to court and ask him to pay back? If I win I want him to cover for the cost of legal expense and if I don't then that's okay, my cost. How long after an incident can I peruse this from a landlord?