Yes, I can just imagine a Judge agreeing with them that your place was rendered uninhabitable by a leaky washer door, one potato crisp and some dust on a lampshade.
If you remedied these minor problems within a few hours, and they still refused to move back in, then they were spinning your wheels. Sounds to me like these folks picked the wrong holiday and are looking for excuses, trying to make you pay for their mistake, in which case, I would offer them
absolutely nothing.
I would simply refund their deposit in full with a brief note saying "in full and final settlement". I wouldn't get into any further discussion about it. Either they will take the money, (cash the check/cheque), in which case you are in the clear, or they will threaten you with court, which is laughable. (see paragraph one above).
One word of caution. I would be very wary of using words like "compensation", which is as good as admitting they are in the right and you are in the wrong. Then the only argument is how much is the wrong worth?
Even if you think they can reasonably expect something back for inconvenience and time lost, I would NEVER give this as "compensation", only as a
"gesture of good will" which doesn't imply liability.
I would rather not admit liability at all with folks who are being completely unreasonable, and think you are wise to insist these were very minor problems of the kind that can occur in any household and not a valid reason for anyone to need to move out. Would they move out of their own house and into a hotel for the same reasons? Of course not. They preferred the hotel to your cottage, that's all. Everything else is just nonsense.
Regarding the cottage, if not done already, I would call in a plumber to have the rubber seal on the washer door replaced as soon as possible. Even though you may know it's not a major defect, a casual observer may think it is. Nobody feels comfortable using a machine that appears to have flooded, or have an ongoing leak, so it's only going to be a source of more trouble and uncertainty.
Also, I don't think it's acceptable for arriving tenants to find scraps of food left by previous tenants and yes, that does include the odd crisp, although I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Maybe your cleaners had a particularly difficult clean the week before and were very rushed, but sorry, I can't help wondering what else they may be missing.
Finally, since the house would have been unoccupied all week, I would take the opportunity to have the cleaners to do all the extra jobs that are difficult for them to fit into a normal changeover, but can start to build up about this time in the season if we're not careful about keeping on top of them. So this situation is a gift in that respect.
Just my opinion and hope it helps,
