London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Sep 12, 2026

Woman, 20, loses £210 deposit after landlord ‘finds a single pea in her fridge’

Woman, 20, loses £210 deposit after landlord ‘finds a single pea in her fridge’

A WOMAN lost her £210 deposit after her landlord found a single PEA left in her fridge.

Matilda Hargreaves, 20, was stunned when she was sent a photo of the tiny green vegetable by the angry homeowner.

Matilda Hargreaves, 20, branded her landlord 'ridiculous' for keeping her £210 deposit

The property owner sent a pic of the single pea by way of explanation


The student has hit out at her "ridiculous" landlord and said the property was in a "much better state" than when she moved in.

Matilda had been living in the seven-bedroom house with only three others after Covid caused chaos for uni-goers across the country.

The 20-year-old English Literature student shared her plight on Tik Tok.

She said: "To be refused the deposit and sent a picture of a single pea in a freezer as way of explanation is just beyond ridiculous.

"We were also sent a picture of a bottle of Febreze we’d left in one of the rooms.

"We were shocked so much had been taken," she said. "I felt like replying saying for £210 I’ll come and clean it myself. It wouldn’t have taken long."

The clip has taken the internet by storm, encouraging hundreds of other tenants to share their stories of hard-hitting landlords.

Matilda, from Crewe, continued: "We did have a good chuckle at it. One of the images they sent that really made us laugh was the outside area.

"When we moved in, there was a lot of cardboard and we cleared it. But because we left a couple of bits of it, behind they’ve charged us for that as well."

But although she saw the funny side, the 20-year-old thinks her landlord should have "cut us some slack".

"We were debating appealing it, but we were so fed up with everything we thought, let’s just take it."

The video, which gained over 700,000 views, inspired social media users to open up about their struggles with landlords who have upped costs due to Covid.

"When we moved out, our landlord took half our deposit for a deep clean for Covid purpose…Cuz Covid was definitely our fault," one said.

Another ticked off tenant wrote: "Our landlord charged £500 for (unnecessary) carpet cleaning and then we walked by the place a week later and all the carpet was in a skip."

A bottle of Febreeze also cost the group more than they bargained for

The English Literature student's TikTok video sparked a wave of social media complaints about landlords

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese Crypto Entrepreneur Leon Li Identified as Seller of £190 Million London Mansion
Trades Union Congress Proposes Social Energy Tariff Funded by Higher Bank Surcharge
British Chambers of Commerce Calls for State Pension Triple Lock to Be Scrapped
Anthropic Says Claude Helped Disrupt Biological Weapons and Cyber Espionage Threats
UK Imposes Sanctions Over Israeli Settlements and West Bank Violence
UK Reimposes Sectoral Sanctions on Iran’s Aviation, Shipping and Energy Networks
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in July as AI and Programming Services Lift Activity
UK House of Commons Rejects Assisted Dying Bill by 286 Votes to 270
UK Reviews Nationwide Emergency Alert Tests After Systems Meet Reliability Targets
UK Seeks Faster Rail Links Across Northern Industrial Corridors
British Business Bank Allocates £150 Million for High-Growth Companies in Northern England
BBC Warns Staff Strikes Are Possible Amid Pay Dispute and £500 Million Savings Drive
UK Backs Short Extension of UN Sudan Sanctions Regime
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Defends Early Prison Release Reforms and Growth Strategy
Reform UK Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged Effort to Circumvent Foreign Donation Rules
UK Analysts Warn Tax Rises or Spending Cuts May Be Needed to Preserve Fiscal Headroom
Jaguar Land Rover Plans Up to 4,000 Job Cuts in £1.7 Billion Cost-Saving Drive
UK Chancellor Warns of Difficult October Budget as Borrowing Costs Rise
UK Declares Israeli Occupation of West Bank Unlawful and Expands Sanctions
UK House of Commons Rejects Assisted Dying Bill for England and Wales
English Councils to Gain Power to Introduce Tourist Taxes by 2028
Kemi Badenoch Reshuffles Conservative Shadow Cabinet
Firefighters Make Progress Containing Major Wildfires in South Wales
John Lewis Partnership Reports £124 Million Loss
Study Says UK AI Data Centres Will Create Only a Quarter of Forecast Jobs
UK Government Considers Higher Industrial Water Prices Amid Supply Pressures
Andy Burnham Holds First Call With Donald Trump as UK Prime Minister
NHS Records Busiest Summer on Record as Heatwaves Drive Hospital Admissions
Home Secretary Orders Police Crackdown on Far-Right Anti-Migrant Vigilantes
UK Supreme Court Rules Northern Ireland Religious Education Curriculum Breaches Human Rights Standards
Markets Price in Four Bank of England Rate Rises by Next Summer
House of Commons Prepares Free Vote on Assisted Dying Bill
UK Government Bans Trade With Israeli Settlements in Occupied Territories
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in July as Artificial Intelligence Investment Supports Expansion
Andy Burnham Becomes UK Prime Minister After Keir Starmer Resigns
John Lewis Partnership Loss Widens to £124 Million
UK Government to Put White Working-Class Social Mobility at Centre of Equality Policy
McLaren Plans £450 Million Technology Investment Creating 1,000 UK Jobs
UK Chancellor Faces Calls for Wealth Taxes and Public Ownership in Autumn Budget
English Mayors to Gain Powers to Impose Uncapped Overnight Tourist Taxes
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Warns UK Government Against Bank Windfall Taxes
UK Air Traffic Control Outage Cancels More Than 2,000 Flights
UK Imposes Trade Ban on Israeli Settlements in the West Bank
UK Borrowing Costs Surge as Middle East Tensions Push Long-Term Gilt Yields to Highest Since 1998
Buckingham Palace Says Prince Harry and Meghan Will Not Resume Official Royal Duties
UK Treasury Faces Calls to Scrap £100,000 Childcare Support Threshold
Trades Union Congress Urges Labour Government to Rewrite Migration Policy
Riot Police Deployed After Anti-Migrant Protests Turn Violent in Portsmouth
UK Considers Replacing Some Disability Cash Payments With Direct Services
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Warns UK Chancellor Against Higher Banking Taxes
×