Help me pls URGENT

I live in a house where the owner lives right upstairs and i had a good relationship with this uncle. My rent was delayed for months because my payments were late so eventually it got to a point where uncle's daughter was talking to me and slowly pushing me to clear rent which is totally fair. I panicked as I did not have the money and offered to give her my camera as collateral for 2 weeks while I figured out the rent and said that if I did not figure it out, they could sell my camera. All of this is on text.

A day after giving my camera, I find out that a legal notice has been sent to my parent's house about the unpaid rent. I was given no warning of this. It was said that rent plus interest as well as an extra month for painting charges has to be paid within 2 months of the date of receiving the notice.

Naturally, i went back to collect my camera as they had decided to make this legal now. But she keeps saying that there is no need for them to return the cameras as we gave them as leverage. How can she do that....?

Is this legal...and if so what should our next steps be?