[user104658]

Originally Posted by the truth

if youre paying privately and the landlord is useless, leave

Again, Truth, I have to point out that if you are in a tenancy contract (which will usually be at least 6 months to a year) and you just up and leave, you will end up with a CCJ against you for the full rent up until the end of the tenancy. Surely as a landlord, you know this?

A couple of months ago a bigger, better house still within my price range (about £100 a month more but easily worth it) became available just across the road. Literally about 50 metres away. We could have moved house on foot without need for a van. But we couldn't, because we're in a contract for the current house until next January.

When next January rolls around, if there aren't any suitable houses for us to move to, we'll have little choice but to sign another six month contract for this one. You can't just "leave" at the drop of a hat. So, we've really had no choice but to force the landlord's hand AND spend our own money (around £1500 so far) repairing and improving this house just to make it somewhere decent to live.