Complaint about the delay of the payment of my deposit money

I have been renting an apartment in a complex in Windsor West, 10 princesses avenue, belonging to Elegant Line Properties from 1st April to 31 December 2021. I paid a deposit of R7250, on the 30 of November, I bought my own house. On the same day, I messaged the agent Christelle that I will be leaving that apartment on 31 December, I also asked when I'll be getting my deposit. She was quiet and never responded for about a week until I went back to her again. When she came back to me, she came back with some calculations indicating that I will only be getting R4500 because I am leaving before the lapse of my lease agreement, I didn't have a problem with that, I understood it. I then asked when am I getting the R4500. She went quiet for some time with no response. Then she later responded by saying I can only get my deposit at the end of January because she will only have a replacement at the end of January. I was disturbed, I didn't understand this because according to my knowledge, getting my deposit has nothing to do with them getting a replacement. I told her that and she went quiet. Then around December when I was about to leave the caretaker and the other agent came to inspect the house. Nothing was said, I handed the keys to the caretaker. I then waited for the end of January as per the promise. Nothing was paid into my account yet the caretaker informed me that they got someone to move into the apartment. I messaged the agent asking for my deposit at the beginning of February. She responded by sending me pictures of damages that she claimed I had caused in the apartment. The damages were said to be the leaking pipes and the door handles, which I complained about since I got into the complex but were never attended to. Though the caretaker tried to fix the door handles, they would always break again at a later stage due to the complex being built of poor quality material. This was a complaint from the majority of the residents in the complex. I complained about the leaking pipes several times but no attention was given to them either. Several times I would message Christelle, complaining about the door handles and locks, and send her pictures to show the condition of my door. Now my concern is that those particular things are being brought up and I am being blamed, and they are brought up late in February when I am asking about my deposit, which is over a month after I left the complex. In mid-February I messaged Christelle, reminding her of my deposit and sending her my banking details, she never gave a response. That is why I decided to take legal action, please kindly assist me to get my deposit from this company