rent. Owning a city home sounds great. But when you crunch the numbers it??s simply unrealistic. Take the average A367,785 London house (yes, that??s the staggering average price now). A 10 pc deposit would set you back A36,779 in one gulp. Repaying the remainder at 5 pc a year would work out at A1,935 a month ( see our mortgage calculator ). Too expensive by half, you??ll agree - even if it is an extreme example. So I rent. Recently, on moving flats, I was reminded of one of the major problems with renting: stumping up the deposit. Landlords typically ask for six weeks?? rent from tenants, which traditionally has been a fallback to cover monthly payments that go missing. Usually the landlord has a mortgage to square off; it??s a simple necessity to have something in the kitty in case a tenant fails to pay up. However, I increasingly hear of greedy landlords raiding this deposit fund for their own gain. They cite poor treatment of the property, which may have broken a nasty condition written into the contract. Some landlords even whack down deductions for what you or I - or any right-minded observer - would class normal wear and tear. I recently heard of a case where a wobbly toilet seat and a minor mark on a carpet were deemed a A200 expense. The worst kind of landlord, though, doesn??t even bother matching their demands to reality. For example, one former landlord tried to charge me A140