I've had some conversations recently which have grown into bonsai thoughts.
Growing up in the 60s there were people who lived in houses they owned and there were people who lived in council housing. Whoever owned the house was responsible for its maintenance.
I remember when I was lucky enough to be a council tenant I was able to go along to the local housing office to let them know about a leak, or a blockage, or an infestation and they would deal with it in a reasonable time.
Since then the vast majority of the UK housing stock has become privately owned, and now that it's become nigh-impossible for most young people to ever get a foot in the door of home ownership, they are choosing to spend their money differently.
Meanwhile, the responsibilty for maintaining the housing stock has fallen into the hands of private landlords, many of whom care little.
I have blipped the local recent profusion of additional exterior insulation, which I can only guess is a response by local landlords to improve the Energy Performance rating on their lets. I have to assume that in order to pay for this they have increased the rents.
What can you do if your private landlord doesn't see fit to maintain the property you inhabit?