I feel for you! We had a villa in 2009 and my husband's contract got suspended. We gave him 3 months notice plus a letter from his employer explaining the situation.
We even left behind the garden set for the next tenants.

We only got half of our deposit back. His reason was that we planted trees and grass and he had to take it out and replace the paving.

We drove by the other day and guess what? The trees still there, so guess the grass too!