Rent back claim

[Junalgen Milan]

Hey! So we bought a house. Owner asked to extend his stay for transfer. We allowed it with a rent back stating that the house should be in good condition. Turnover can and when we were in the property, there was still a lot of trash that needs to be clean. So we had to spend a ton of time cleaning previous owner mess. Now, i emailed the title company to claim for the 1k rent back. The seller denies it but the agent took a picture of the trash seller left. Now, if the seller continue to disagree, title company suggest we for to court for small claims mediation. Is it worth to go that far? I can shy away from the 1k but i dont like to tolerate people like that. For me, it should be the responsibility of the seller taking away his stuff after selling the house. Am i wrong to think that way?