Can a landlord withhold a deposit?

Questioner

I moved out of my rental apartment after 8 years. During an initial inspection by the real estate agent, I was informed of water damage in the floor. We sanded and varnished it, but a slight imprint was still visible. During the transfer inspection, they said that they wanted to have it looked at by a professional. The total surface area of ​​water damage was approximately 12 m2 and approximately 2 m2 was caused by a leaking boiler. In the meantime, they have repaired the floor and they come up with an invoice for sanding, varnishing and colouring (complete renovation) of an area of ​​68 m2. We were not informed about this in advance. During the time that I lived there and during the time that the previous resident lived there (13 years in total), no maintenance was ever carried out on the floor and I have the feeling that they now want to wrongly pay maintenance costs from my deposit. Our then new neighbour pointed out to us the state of delivery of her floor, where they had left the same kind of water damage (rings through plant pot) and this was not sanded at all by the previous occupant or by a professional company. This may have to do with the fact that the previous occupant is an employee of the organisation that rents out the apartments. Because of this we have the feeling that, in addition to the fact that unjustified costs are being charged, there is also double standard. My question is whether the landlords have the right to deduct the (full) costs of this floor renovation from my deposit?

Lawyer

No, they don't if they have rented you a house with a defect in the house's permanently connected installation (leaking boiler). Unless you could have easily discovered the defect by simply doing mandatory tenant (minor) maintenance, and thus could have prevented damage or more damage. Then briefly about that damage and its repair: the landlord may offset repair costs with the deposit if the damage was caused by you, but only the affected parts taking into account the current value of the floor. Color differences caused by various layers of lacquer are not relevant.