Hello Jana,

Your landlady cannot request to keep any money to cover cleaning costs, unless you left the apartment in a disastrous and filthy state. In any case you must be aware that 800 € Euros for cleaning is an abusive amount! Cleaning expenses cannot be demanded from the tenant, as the landlady is cleaning the apartment for it to be rented to someone else, and that is her duty, not yours. I recommend you to clean the apartment before leaving it and keep evidences ( witnesses, photos ) to be able to prove the apartment has been left in good living conditions.

Regarding the carpet, you would have to find out what is the approximate cost of a similar one and in this case the landlady has the right to keep an amount of the deposit to cover the cost of replacing it. If there was a conflict about the value of the carpet, a judge would have to take a decision for you.

If you vacate the apartment leaving it in perfect living conditions, the landlady cannot keep the deposit/guarantee. The fact of not having a written rental contract could mean an obstacle as you would be unable to prove those 1.200 Euros were given to her, though it could be proved by other means ( eye-witnesses, emails, etc..).

If you prefer to discuss the case in detail, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,