Why are some people such a pain in the bum?

The owner of the place that we are renting is a real pain in the bum.

We've had a water leak for some months now - the street is usually coated in water, and it is completely obvious that it is coming from our place.

We told the agency about it, and they refered it the owner, and he drove past and had a look and said it was us over watering the lawn.

So we stopped watering the lawn, and the water kept coming. So he sent his own plumber, who took one look and said there was a big puddle of water underneath the lawn and it was draining out.

A week later, it was still leaking, so I ran the washing machine and went outside with my camera. I was able to video water starting to leak shortly after the washing machine went into the spin cycle. Finally - hard evidence that was difficult to contradict.

The owner then said he would come and have a look, but he never did. He then said he'd send his plumber, who never turned up. The agent finally organised their own plumber, who arrived today, took one look at it and put some thingy down the drain that pushed out a couple of litres of grease and goo. The verdict is that the drain was blocked just enough to allow most of the water through, but enough to cause a leak. The pipes were a right bastard to get to - the apprentice ended up with grease in his hair, and it was not a good look. Or smell. It stunk.

We now have grease splattered around the walls of the laundry, and grease over the washing machine, and the laundry stinks to high heaven, but the leak has stopped.

Now comes the challenge of getting all the other faults around the house repaired. If it took this long to fix this problem, and I think Sydney Water was threatening fines, then what hope do we have of getting the rest done?