Moving into a rental house with too many faults

[OldBun58]

We have just sold our lovely modern loft apartment and moved into a rented house a week ago until we find a suitable house to buy.
It is a 70-s house that had been neglected and trashed by previous tenants, but has recently undergone a renovation. It looked good and fresh at a first glance, the agent said they were finishing it off any time soon.
We paid a holding deposit 4 weeks in advance in assurance everything would be working like a clock. However, after moving in we found so many problems that left us speechless. The builders did a very poor job, cutting corners and leaving jobs unfinished, appliances not working, shower heads covered in thick green scale and black mould, the windows were filthy, lawn not moved with bramble sprawling through half of the garden, shed full of litter remains and stinky. The list goes on and on! The agent has come up with vague excuses, some contractors have been sent in, but a lot more needs doing. We rented 3 times before between selling and buying properties, and it was nowhere as bad as this.
I wonder what rights do we have in terms of compensation for unprepared property, some unusable parts of it, our time for dealing with it, not to mention undue stress at our semi-retired age? We have not been able to unpack our belongings as all time is being spent dealing with the agent and contractors, taking pictures, writing e-mails, etc, etc. What does rental law say about it?

Make sure you take photos of everything when you move in so they cannot blame you for the state of things. It’s very important to document so you get your deposit back.

Sadly I’m not sure you have any rights otherwise apart from that it is habitable. Appliances provided should definitely be working though and should be fixed or replaced by the landlord.

You could contact Shelter for advice?

We also moved into rented after selling and moved in to find that none of the windows open, the house stank, everything breaks. It really depressed me for quite a few weeks. There’s nothing you can do other than complain and hope you find somewhere to buy quickly.

sorry you’re going through the same thing.

When did you move in? I side a week and I would be seeking to move out for a full refund from the agent as the property is not habitable and not presented as agreed - along with anlong list of repairs needed. They likely don't have to agree but I'd be giving it a good go.

Alternatively I'd given them 2 weeks from move it to make all the required repairs - this is things like heating, safety stuff like rubbish clearance etc otherwise I'd go to the council private rented team for support.

Good luck I hope you get out soon.

This is how I felt but trying to find somewhere again and then moving is such a huge effort.

Most of these things sound like none issues, limescale on a shower head? the grass not mowed? unwashed windows?

Have you not rented before?

I have for 17 years and I WISH those where the worst of the problems we encountered, as they wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. Those above things are clearly listed in the standard contract as 'tenant responsibility' not landlord jobs. Yes it should have been deep cleaned before a new tenant but they are just going to roll their eyes at you for bringing up what is basic tenant maintenance issues.

Make sure you take a photo and if they try to blame you when you move out you only have to return it in the state it was in at the start (we did this with the over grown garden).

Not sure why anything you listed means you can't unpack.

What appliances? is it a finished rental because most come without appliances. If you are referring to something like the boiler etc... though then they should fix it in reasonable time. If anything urgent like that isn't working and they ignore you you can get advice from places like shelter or CAB.

Moving again soon is a tall order. Not only huge stress, but also another 3K for the 2-day removals. We have a lot of stuff...