I like to sleep at night, so every house we are going to flip has had a permit pulled on items where required. 

Earlier that day he said he might get kicked out and was already sleeping upstairs.

And let's not talk about the clowns who will go and disturb the tenant without anyone's permission just to get inside and look at the house.

The only thing with this particular property is the 4 units are all rentals and my assumption was the seller didn't want to either 1, let the tenants know he was selling or 2, want them to be disturbed every time a potential buyer wanted to come see the property.

At the end of the day, you have to decide what will make you sleep at night.

If you miss a prayer session or sleep in late or miss a workout etc are you letting that dictate the rest or your day?

there is a process that  they can bore through the pipe and add a sleeve without disturbing the ground, it is not cheap but may be better price than where you are now ...

Hopefully they were genuinely memorializing the two while forgetting the lease terms.The "sign the petition" part is really interesting, and disturbing at the same time.

Money does not sleep, complain, unionize, get sick, question, go on strike, take a day off, etc. 70% of your money should be in play at all times.15% pounce money - ready to go when you see a good opportunity. 15% transitory - money in and out of short term deals.

Before you ever see the charge, I would have already seen and acted on a jump in usage such as you suggest, either making a notation on the invoice, or sending a timely email advising of findings and action taken....and this proactive approach is why all your customers probably sleep well at night.