Is anyone here a surveyor?

I have taken on board everything that Fred has said- I got a reply from the landlord:

Me:
Action Homes, Nisa and Vision Homes are all denying any responsibility when I speak to them, have you got anywhere?

Him:

Not in a way which will result in resolution this week.

As bad as it sounds you are not going to get any resolution even if you hire a surveyor and they say it is a maintanace or construction issue. Fred is right and there is no point in you engaging a surveyor directly. If you go down this path the other parties will simply dispute your surveyors findings and since they didn't engage the surveyor and didn't instruct you to engage a surveyor you will be out of pocket and really struggle to recover your costs.

You need to get your landlord to act and act in writing not just casual phone conversations. I assume you don't want to start seding threatening letters to your friend and landlord but it always pays to get things in writing, so send him and official complaint and if need be write a letter for her to send to the freeholder. Once you start establishing a paper trail you will have some backing behind your expense claim for a renting a car for the weekend, but make sure you get your complaint in writing and then start hassling for a formal response.