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Hi everyone,

I am currently facing an issue with my landlord who refuses to return my deposit. During my 11-month stay in the apartment, there were initially three of us as tenants. The first tenant left after 4 months and received his deposit back from the second tenant who followed. My second flatmate left the flat one month before the end of the contract and had an agreement with the landlord that his last month's rent would be deducted from the deposit. In the final month, I stayed alone in the flat and paid rent as usual. I considered not paying rent for the last month based on advice from some Polish friends due to the possibility of this situation, but I ultimately decided to pay it because the landlord seemed trustworthy.

I expected that my deposit would be returned after checking out because I received a message from him on WhatsApp: "***** I talked with ****, and I will give him and you the deposit after the check-out on the 30th of *******." After this message, we agreed that there was no reason for my flatmate to pay rent for one more month if he wasn't living there, and I could pay my share so the landlord could feel secure. Also reading his message on whatsapp i expected to get deposit in my hand after checking out.

During the check-out, the landlord began to inspect the flat. I can assure you that the flat was in the same condition as when I moved in. The issues he found were:

• Dust on the balcony (due to the weather)
• Slight discoloration of the shower pipeline due to use
• Minor splitting of the silicone around the bath
• A few pieces of onion at the bottom of the fridge
• A small amount of paprika in the deep fridge

He immediately deducted 500 PLN from the deposit for these issues, and I found it quite unreasonable since he seemingly came up with this amount on the spot. I refused to pay for these deductions, as many of these issues were a result of normal wear and tear, especially the shower. I told him I wouldn't leave the flat until I received my deposit, and also saying him that he can call police right away, t he was in a hurry for a wedding and h promised that i will definitely get my deposit back next week.

I didn't want to leave without some assurance, so I asked him to sign an agreement on a piece of paper. I wrote the following:

"AGREEMENT BETWEEN (LANDLORD) ********* ***** LIVING AT ADDRESS *********** *** ********* ****** ******* AND TENANT ******** ************* ****** **** LANDLORD ******** ********** WILL TRANSFER DEPOSIT (2000 PLN) TO ************ ********** VIA BANK TRANSFER WITHIN 7 DAYS, BETWEEN ..*** AND ..**** SIGNATURE: (I have the landlord's signature) and SIGNATURE (MY SIGNATURE) Additionally, I added another section: DATE OF SIGNATURE AFTER INSPECTION OF FLAT ** ** *****

Landlord (I have his signature) and Me."

I understand that this may not be legally correct, but I needed something in that moment, so we hastily wrote it down on paper. I have all the details on paper, and I sent pictures to him via WhatsApp from my phone.

Do you have any advice on what I can do in this situation to pursue the return of my deposit? Also, I have a witness, my girlfriend, who was with me throughout this process.