Thanks all - Renter that's really handy info, cheers.
Special - yes, we ended up giving a month notice in writing on 24th Jan because we hadn't wanted the hassle of the viewings etc (not that that stopped him!). The end of the tenancy was yesterday, 24th Feb. He acknowledged the notice received in writing by reply to our email. The focus since has only been on his sale, to be honest we've been treated as an irritation s opposed to a commitment that comes with obligations!
Despite the tenancy ending on 24th formally we had the opportunity to move earlier and so did so on 13th. We let him know it would be 'vacant' from then, although I reminded him that as our tenancy didn't end until the 24th we would store a couple of things there and would need to be kept informed of visits to the flat by himself or the agents as per the contract. The LL, it transpired, did not have a deadlock key for the front door and so after we had moved out, he asked that we give one set of our keys to the agent in order for the property to be kept secure, which we did (a 2 hour to hand trip, we must be mad!)
Neither he, nor the agents, informed us of any visits to the flat from 13th to 22nd, when we were at the property and the agent let themselves in whilst we were there with a couple of prospective viewers!
With regards to the deposit, when we moved in I had to remind him that it needed to be protected and it was put into a scheme. We have the paperwork for that. After a couple of weeks, he finally sent an inventory and asked us to sign it and return, which I didn't as it hadn't been done in our presence. I did email him to say that the oven was not clean when we moved in and o we would return it in the same state.
He is proposing to do the inspection on Saturday and won't budge on that. He has conceded that one of us needs to be there (my DH, as I will be a week away from ELCS!) now, and has said he is 'happy' for us yo hand over the keys in person if that's what we wish to do.
There may be two issues, on of which we are willing to pay for and that is a broken socket case. I think he will want to charge us for carpet cleaning but if he has allowed people to access the flat without our express agreement can he do this? There are number of marks on the carpet from wet, dirty shoes (the agent revealed they did another open day on 15th so I suspect it's from then). I know the odd mark on the wall is wear and tear, and the property was unfurnished so there's nothing yo worry about on that front.
Sorry for the essay! Your help is massively appreciated.