Still remains with light switches that dont work
Safety hazard.
Serious health risk. That's easy to get them on, but I don't recall the specific chapter and verse. A friend had the local utility company out on Christmas Eve having been told that the backed up drains wouldn't be dealt with until the new year. Once she told the the customer service rep just how many laws were being broken, there was a gang there within an hour - and they suggested that my friend must know people to get them out on Christmas Eve !
My friend is a H&S person for a large company - so it's her job to know the law on it
If that doesn't work, the council can, and do, serve improvement noticed on owners of substandard properties - which if ignored can lead to fines or even prison in exceptional cases.
Don't know the specific H&S laws that would apply to defective sewage installations, but the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 Section 11 specifies that the landlord "the landlord shall keep in repair: ... the installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity and sanitation" as a legally imposed implied term. Section 17 says that "... requires specific performance by the landlord where there has been a breach, i.e. the payment of compensation will not be sufficient remedy. This means that the county court can make an order requiring the landlord to fulfil the express or implied repairing terms of the tenancy agreement."
So if you want to hurry things along, read up the above act, and draft a letter requiring the landlord to perform their mandated maintenance responsibilities. Give them a reasonable time to deal with the issues (note that the light switches would also be included), after which you will start proceedings in the County Court. Unless the HA is run by complete muppets, things are likely to get sorted PDQ !
Or complain to the council environmental health department and let them deal with it.
But don't take my word for it - after all I'm "just some bloke on the internet" - but do your own reading and if necessary take proper advice. But put complaints in writing, and send the initial one by recorded delivery so there's no argument that it was received.
, and an insecure fire door to the rear of the communal area
Security risk. Threaten to hold the HA liable for any and all losses due to their negligence which may well invalidate DILs insurance.
Sorry, but there is no excuse for renting out substandard properties. As a landlord myself (NLA accredited), it's embarrassing to see such stories.