Help with my landlady UK
Hello, I'm looking for a little advise regarding my ex landlady. I moved out this week from a property that I have kept well maintained, repaired anything at my own cost when it has been required (there were a tonne of problems with a gas leak, water leak internal, water leak externally, broken chimney causing damp, broken boiler and more). The landlady asked me to paint, de-weed and deep clean the property before leaving as she had tenants moving in the next day. May I add everything has been amicable and was fine up until this last few weeks.
During the last month of my stay the key I had broke in the door lock due to the extreme heat we have been having. The estate agents and last tenants also confirmed the lock was broken but to keep at with it as the landlady has refused to repair lock or door in the past. I tried to call the land lady numerous times but got no response so a locksmith was contacted so I could gain access to the property to move my stuff out. The locksmith confirmed the lock should of been replaced years previous due to rotting and rust. I still couldn't get hold of the landlady so had to pay the bill for the locksmith so he could move on to his next emergency appointment (it was during the weekend). 10 minutes later she calls back and says she will pay the bill. An hour later she is accusing me or the locksmith of fraud, shes now not going to pay the bill and basically wants me to conduct a full blown fraud investigation on the locksmith (he was 100% legitimate and registered). There was a lot of back and forth and she is still yet to refund me the money. She threatened she was a non practicing solicitor and is just doing her due diligence (she was previously struck off due to imbezzlement claims and tax avoidance. I am unsure on the whole case as do not feel it is my place nor should I judge someone upon their past). She argued the bill amount stating I should of paid cash and not paid the VAT as it is something she can not claim and this is standard practice for the property managment company she runs. She tried texting the neighbour (who is also a landlord) and he agreed it needed refunding, it wasn't fraudulent as he witnessed everything and that the bill price looked correct for an emergency call out with full lock replacement. She still refused to refund the money and now cut contact with him. She has been silent for the last 2 weeks of my tenancy and blanking messages.
Come to this last week. I painted, deweeded, deepcleaned. Videos and took photos of the interior to prove how I had left the property. I made her aware on the last day I was finishing off and would leave her a key out to do her inspection. She replied asking for bank details so she could refund both amounts as soon as she has done her inspection (deposit was not put into a deposit scheme but instead has been sat in her account). I messaged that evening to thank her for letting me rent her home, I'd left a key and look forward to hearing from her regarding inspection. She ignored this message. I messaged again to confirm she had retrieved the keys and advised I'd left the other keys with an agent as requested, she read and ignored this message too. I messaged again to check she recieved my message and has got the keys for the inspection, she finally replied just stating yes thank you.
I know a relative of the new tenants and they have advised they're not due to move in yet so this feels like a ploy to get me to do everything that was the landladies responsibility before I moved out.
So far I am 3 weeks past having to pay the locksmith with no refund. I am also now worried I will lose my deposit also due to how she is reacting and ignoring any attempts of communication regarding both amounts of money. I'm worried if anyone could give some current advise on next steps who may of been in a similar situation with disputing regarding money due to be returned with the deposit not being put into a scheme.