problems with rented house and landlords timescale to get repairs done

[agamemnon]

recently my wife and i rented a 3/4 bed house for a 6 month rental and paid the full amount in advance. the landlord has the house on the market and we are having estate agents showing people the house once or twice a week.
the house has just been renovated and the owner has cut every single corner to finish the job. to start with the house looked lovely but on closer inspection we have found that the problems in the house are to many to be listed.
within 2 days of moving in our toilet blocked and as i was unable to unblock it i contacted the landlord. he said he would sort it and 3 days later he still hadnt. we have 4 kids and having our only toilet blocked was causing so many problems that in the end i called out a drain company to try and fix it. they came round and after looking decided they needed to come back the next day. then after they came back they had problems with the sewer and had to arainge to come back in another 2 days on a saturday morning so they could have access to neighbours property. well to cut a long story short 5 days after first calling out the drain company they got a camera down the pipe and found that the shody builders had dumped concrete down the pipe. they was unable to do any more as to fix the problem the floor in the bathroom needed digging up and a new sewer pipe had to be fitted. in all this time i had zero contact with my landlord even though i had been to his house and left sveral answer machine and text messages. the work for the drain cost me £350.
also from day 1 i had been asking the landlord to get a glazer out and bead our downstairs windows as the only thing holding the glass in place was double sided sticky tape.
after i had paid out the cash to try and fix the drain the estate agent rang to ask if he could bring people round to view the house. due to being out of pocket i told him that no one was allowed round until our landlord had fixed the windows and the drain. 3 days after this the landlord came round with his east european builders and dug from out side under the footings and some how managed to replace the pipe, he also got a glazer out to fix the windows. it still took another week for him to give me a cheque to cover my expenses.
i have had to pay out of my own pocket for the washing machine and dishwasher to be plumbed in and i have done various jobs around the house. he has said he is fine with me doing smll jobs and to cover myself i have photos of before and after to show the work was needed and done correctly.
3 days ago our electric started tripping out. i contacted him after it had tripped 3 times in one day. then today it tripped and we couldnt get any power on the downstairs ring main. i rang him at lunch time and left a message saying the problem had got worse. after unplugging every plug socket to make sure it no fault of my own i tried several times to contact him and in the end he switched off his phone without answering it once. i visited his house and spoke to his wife with no joy either. eventualy at 530 pm he called me to say he was sorry but as he was out of town he couldnt come round to look at the problem until tomorow afternoon. after an argument he said he would call out an emergency electrician to fix the problem. its had a temp job done and we have been told it needs the wiring checked out and could well take a full day to trace the fault.
my question is do i have any grounds for compensation for the problems we have had so far and what sort of position would i be in when more problems with the house crop up? it takes upto 3 days of phone calls and text messages for him to contact me and the stress from all the problems is causing my wife lots of illness.
am i just stuck with this or can i do any thing to get things rolling faster in future ?

[agamemnon]

and for an update last night my wife got an electric shock. lucky it was only a small one but if that had been my 5yr old daughter then it might have been different.
after testing the light socket i found it was live and it seems the electrician has bypassed the earth leak trip all together so now the earth for the house is live and tyhis includeds the central heating pipes and my washing machine/dish washer