I had this same scenario on a gas hot water tank.

Now fast forward a bit I have two other big problems one the tenant and I agreed to just calculate the square footage of this sunroom and give her a deduction based on the square footage but it is still an issue with a leaking sunroom of doom. 

And for 5 to 25 units, most of those were built in the 60's, and lots of those during that period only have one water meter, sometimes one gas meter per building as well, and lots of mom and pop owners pay for water/gas/sewer.

Our gas company has a plan, service plus.

Oil and gas fields come to mind.

In a rental property, if you need to replace the water heater, which is better: gas operated vs. electricity operated?

those type of homes are all throughout houston... id believe the agent i went to see a house once that was listed 100k, it got done 105k ... about the same 1600 sqft 3 bed 2 bath ... the house had a tarp on the roof, it was raining and leaking in, foundation problems all over... whoever bought that would need to put in 50k at least if not more.but if it rents for say 1350-1400 a month, then there will be an investor willing to do that deal and roll with the riskcap rates in houston are pretty low and in most major metros are much lower while there is still a ton of money everywhere looking to find yield

William, Some utility companies have warranty/ service agreements that you pay for every month, i do not know how fast they would come out to repair stuff. i know here in NJ our Gas/ Electric provider, PSEG, has such a program but you pay for it monthly whether you use it or not, i don't know if they do minor stuff, mostly larger appliances. but that may be different with the utility co. by you.

No leins on the property but I just found a gas bill lying on the ground.

I have not personally experienced this but I have heard stories where leaks occurred in the unit above and trickled down to their unit causing issues the owners just couldn't avoid.I'm not saying its a good or bad investment.