Trained as a lawyer in the UK, never practised but have dealt with a lot of landlord disputes for friends.
The great thing about landlords is that they are a bunch of fucking pirates, which means that most of them are in breach of the contract many times over. No landlord wants a legal fight when he can easily replace you with another tenant. Lawyers fees could easily run him £200 per hour outside London - ie your entire first month's rent gone in a couple of hours. It's not in his interests to make a fuss.
A stroppy letter from your lawyer demanding instant mutual termination, with a few areas mentioned where the landlord has failed to perform his duties, should quickly get you to a point you can draw a line under it and move on. EG if you paid the deposit more than 2 weeks ago, the landlord should have put the deposit in a special government backed account and given you written notice of where it is being stored. If he has failed to do so, as most landlords do, then that is a serious breach. As with most legal matters, it should mostly be a matter of making his life difficult until he agrees to your demands.
The great thing about landlords is that they are a bunch of fucking pirates, which means that most of them are in breach of the contract many times over. No landlord wants a legal fight when he can easily replace you with another tenant. Lawyers fees could easily run him £200 per hour outside London - ie your entire first month's rent gone in a couple of hours. It's not in his interests to make a fuss.
A stroppy letter from your lawyer demanding instant mutual termination, with a few areas mentioned where the landlord has failed to perform his duties, should quickly get you to a point you can draw a line under it and move on. EG if you paid the deposit more than 2 weeks ago, the landlord should have put the deposit in a special government backed account and given you written notice of where it is being stored. If he has failed to do so, as most landlords do, then that is a serious breach. As with most legal matters, it should mostly be a matter of making his life difficult until he agrees to your demands.