LEGAL HELP! - Currently dealing w/ one of "THOSE" landlords

[Daniel Porter]

I'm a newbie REInvestor in Dallas, TX, but today i'm having some issues with my landlord, and i wanted to reach out to the BP community for some advice. I'll try to give as much detail as possible, but if it doesn't make sense, please ask me to clarify something and i'll do it asap. 

heres the situation. 

My three roomates and i are renting an old, SFR on a single lease, not individual room leases. The lease is up in two weeks. Two of the roommates are moving out. weve got one more roomate to find.

the problem:
the fourth room area will occasionally flood with ground water when there is a bad enough storm, about once or twice per year. like, last monday when i was showing the room to an optimistic, potential roommate (who then backed out of the deal, after seeing the water starting to puddle.)
current roommate living there is a CHAMPION and smilingly puts up with it for the massive discount rent he pays while living this close to downtown dallas (<10m). 

the landlord:
Knows about the flooding, we've told him via email (not certified mail, yet) and he did not do anything to solve the issue. there are also other issues in the house (like i said, old) like the gutters falling apart, balcony wood rotting, foundation issues, etc. he simply will not put in any money unless he has too. The one time that occured, was when the flooring was getting moldy, so he got new flooring installed, after about 4 weeks of us nagging, which ended up taking another 2 weeks. we have never have seen him in 2 years. completely hands off. home insurance handles EVERYTHING. his office assistant handles repair inspections/contractors, and then passes the fees onto us, generally speaking, since he doesn't see these expenses as maintenance, and to be fair, some of them aren't (HVAC filter based problems, garbage disposal issues)

why we haven't abandoned ship: 
Now, believe it or not, the two of us want to continue living here. the house, apart from that one back room area, has its perks, and has even become a part of the growing dallas music scene. BUT, with only three roomates, the rent is way more than we can afford to pay. 

Today:
i emailed the landlord, who is also a lawyer (yikes), about not being able to find a roommate for the room that is flooding, and asking him for actionable ideas, saving my recommendations later. yes, i've been playing property manager for him the entire time, getting roommates lined up and advertising locally. His response to my reasonably brief update and request for some contribution: "As far as I am concerned, the tenancy is with you all. Therefore, I cannot get into the issue of how you work this out." 

as a wannabe landlord, i completely respect the hands off approach, but this is taking it to a whole new level! If my property was flooding perennially, I would step in and deal with it, or have never bought the property in the first place! 

which leads to another point, if we ask for anything drastic to be repaired, he will threaten to not renew the lease and level the property. Yes, destroy it. He has not said this to me directly, but allegedly he implied this to a previous roommate when dealing with the same issue two years ago. *found this tidbit out today, btw* 

He previously bought this house with his wife, and then a horrible marriage fiasco ensued. the neighbors still tell stories of their shouting matches in the front yard. 

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so theres the gist. sorry for the length, but i figured itd be better to include the details to minimize the questions and maximize the answers. 

i'd like to get to a win-win situation from this, and ideally even swing this into a seller financing deal (seems pretty distressed to me!), buy the house in a neighborhood with over 50% (of sustainable) appreciation at about half of its ARV and do a BRRR or flip. BUT, seems like that might not work, considering his level of animosity towards the property. 

In a Win situation, i'd like to simply get the flooding room fixed, by litigation if necessary, because i think we'd have the winning case, based on my very limited knowledge of landlord-tenant law. 

Does ANYONE have any clues about what to do? Or could you possibly put me in touch with a relatively affordable Real Estate Lawyer that could consult me in this situation? I want to get this taken care of.