I did not put any of his info into practice and stopped listening to the podcasts after a while because lease options didn't really appeal to me, but he seemed like a decent guy and the podcast had a lot of value at no cost. 

More than likely, you will need to meet ingress and egress requirements - Illegal renting is tempting, but practically suicide.

https://www.kts-law.com/practice-areas/landlord-tenant-law/Good luck!

If your intent is to go ahead with the purchase how do you get around the inspection fee...another words do investors as a regular practice PAY an inspector to inspect the property even though its not really yours yet ...and may never be??

Splitting services is definitely ideal, but not always possible or practical.  

They pretty much all do it, some with predatory lending type practices on this board. 

David, you guys are ethical in your approach and business practices and I love that about you guys.

I know many are passionate about the real estate practice, I acknowledge that and am knocking it! 

Are there any practical methods for implementing usage-based billing without submetering?

In practicality, your lease is saying that you have the legal right to charge the rent up until you find a new tenant because you have a legal obligation to mitigate your losses.