I'm a LP - have 100% of care of my DD (8). Ex does not pay maintenance (doesn't work) or do much practical support (comes over to play with DD a couple of days a week but nothing more). DD loves her dad and her school but gets little in the way of actual "dad like" support - in many ways he is as much a liability as he is a good father. E.g. unreliable, won't' help himself, difficult etc. He does play nicely with DD but it has to be supervised because he is prone to not meeting her needs appropriately and gets very stressed easily which makes it difficult on my part as I cannot get on with anything away from DD for any period of time.
I'm in a rented flat with woodchip wallpaper, crap carpets. Can not afford to buy locally (expensive area). I could move away and potentially buy something to shore up our future.
ExP is stubborn about staying where he is (one of the most expensive places in the UK).
I don't want to rip DD away from her father but am also loathe to stay in a shit rented flat forever just to maintain his regular but lazy contact with DD.
I'm really torn! I'm also loathe to move to another town nearby as they are all very provincial depressing places. At the moment I have no family but some friends here.
What have others done in this situation? Advice?