Towards the end of a lease of a house, the glass in a sliding door was shattered and cost €300 to repair (which was paid by the landlord).
When the tenant was leaving, the landlord deducted the cost of the repair from the security deposit. The tenant disputed the deduction on the following grounds: The door was actually damaged by a neighbour during an argument / fight.
The landlord spoke with the neighbour's mother (the guy who allegedly broke the glass not being available at the time) who denied vehemently that the boy did it and supposed that the partner of the tenant did it in an act of rage (related to the argument but that's not really relevant), but promised to pay if the police (who had been called at the time) found that he did.
Now my question is, must the landlord return the deposit in full and seek payment by pursuing the matter with the police, or can they withhold the amount from the deposit and leave it up to the tenant to seek reparations from the neighbour in question?