I currently live alone with my 4 young children, we rent a lovely 4 bed bungalow in a small and very friendly village, the children are at a lovely school which is just a few doors down from our house which is great! But the landladies are very elusive, i cant and have never spoken to them, they only go through the agent, and im pretty sure they hardly ever relay messages i send to the landladies when i ask. There has been one man who has dealt with the whole renovation of the property before i moved in, and he is an absolute cowboy, i had to get electrician in when i moved in as there were 3 wall sockets hanging out, wires hanging out with my small children around, he just left them like that, ive had a plumber in many many times to fix his mistakes and he's put a socket in the cupboard under my sink directly under the sink plumbing which, as i only recently discovered he hasnt installed properley, which explains why i have had a leak from the sink dripping ONTO the socket for 18 months!!! i have had a plastic jug strategically placed to collect the drips without it hitting the socket, but have to empty it twice a day, and because the landladies insist on having this idiot and no-one else to fix things, he just comes in and 'fixes' it, but obviously doesnt because he doesnt know what he's doing and so the drip starts again 2/3 days later! I evetually got my own plumber in and paid him out of my own money and he was shocked to say the least! - none of the pipes had ever ever been sealed, half the washers didnt fit the pipes correctly which is why it was leaking, and the sink itself hadnt been put in properly! Its a nightmare - this guy did the whole house! For this alone, i wouldnt be too bothered, but this guy has been very very rude, and told me i was a fcking btch because i wouldnt let him into my house alone while i was out!! The agent looked into it and he of course denied all, and the landladies still insist in only him doing the work and there are things that need doing! Some say i should move but after a very very bad year (my ex beat me up when i was 4 months pregnant last year, i managed to split with him, but he spent months coming back here screaming abuse, slashing my tyres, smearing rotten eggs all over my windows etc etc. all this has stopped now so we are all finally feeling settled) i dont feel i have the strength to move house and all the upheaval that goes with 
what rights do i have with renting? do i have any? Is there any way whatsoever of having any security when it comes to renting, or am i just living on the whim of the landladies forever????