Forced cleaning deductions on our deposit Casually dismissed flat maintenance requests Secretly let themselves in Not acting in good faith The deposit deduction was discussed on a platform they picked, The Depositary, which did not allow release of the non-dispute part of deposit first. We spoke to TDS and apparently by the books that should be an available option. Yet The Depositary replied saying they simply do not provide it. Paramount was using this platform's nature against us, threatening us that if we chose to dispute, the entire sum of deposit would be held by them for weeks. If you are having the same problem, I'd suggest getting the deposit certificate number and contact TDS directly asap, to look into the possibility of dispute in TDS instead of The Depositary. For numerous times Paramount tried to steer us away from TDS, saying it was connected to The Depositary anyway, that it was unnecessary and time-wasting, but we found the two to be very different systems. The Depositary was very limiting for us and seemed very landlord-driven. It was too late when we learnt about TDS and had to give in at the end because one of us was in urgent need of the money, even though it was so unfair. When we moved in individually in 2018-2020, all the common areas were dusty and sticky with forgotten belongings, furnitures and food left by tenants as early as 2007. The flat hadn't really been cleared out nor professionally cleaned since. Paramount was well-aware of the flat's status and they casually dismissed our request for a new check-in report, making us think it was okay for the flat to be dirty when we checked in and it would be reflected truly later. During our tenancy we cleaned up the flat so much, we even paid from our own pockets to professionally clean the carpet. We did a final big cleaning and left the flat much cleaner than when we moved in. They tried to charge us £360, including things like cobweb near ceilings and outsides of windows (the flat was on the 2nd floor), claiming they had to professionally clean the flat, although they ended our tenancy for flat renovation. On top of that, they kept writing lies on The Depositary; lies like they explained the situation to us fully and assisted us in every way when we moved in, or they resolved the mice problem and the chimney debris problem that we raised and chased. Twice they left a huge disgusting mess doing something to the bathroom pipes, when we asked about it, their words were 'why can't you clean it yourselves'. They had also let themselves in and out without any notice, knocks nor even a shout, even went into my room; my flatmate was alone in her room at that time and thought the person who came and left was me.