Thank you for your review. I understand your frustrations. It was your landlord who requested for a 12 month fixed agreement at the renewal point. Your contract is with the landlord and not with Martin & Co we act purely on the instruction of the landlord. Early termination is a breach of the tenancy agreement, and the implication in terms of cost to the tenancy of such breach is detailed in the tenancy agreement which you reviewed and signed. We use an independent specialist company for inventory reports and check-out reports who applies industry professional standards to the assessment of property condition both before and after tenancies. Our landlords act on their professional advice in matters related to end of tenancy matters. Whilst you do not have a legal right to be present during a check-out inspection, had you requested to be present in advance we would have informed you of the time and date of the inspection. Our standard practice in relation to keys, is for keys to be returned to our office to provide proof of return to those tenants, to avoid any doubt that they have returned the full set of keys issued to them at the start of their tenancy. Most tenants recognise that the process protects their position. Security deposit negotiation is between the tenant and their landlords as the two parties to the tenancy agreement. As agent, our role is to advise the parties as required, but to take instruction from our client, the landlords. It can prove frustrating for all parties if there is a delay in either party responding to the other, and we do all we can to expedite the process. In your case, your deposit was registered with the DPS and the DPS terms and conditions were provided to you along with the new AST to be reviewed and signed. This document details everything you need to know about the scheme and about your deposit. Once you raised frustration with the return of your deposit, you were reminded of these terms in order to refer to them and provided with them again by your property manager and then again by the branch manager but unfortunately you failed to make contact with the DPS. You recently claimed that the DPS failed to contact you but it was explained to you by Martin & Co and by the DPS terms provided that you are responsible for ensuring that your current contact details are updated directly with the DPS. Should you wish to take this matter further, you would need to do so directly with the DPS as Martin & Co have provided you with the information and documentation you have needed at every opportunity.