Fundamentally, if the surround is already in poor condition, with cracks and gaps, you must assume water has entered the wall cavity and created who knows what kind of issues--from simple rot, to attracting various pests, to mold.

And, as for the washer plug, I just ran a ground wire from the plug to the galvanized water pipe.

One of those scumbag contingency lawyers tried to sue us.Then, a tenant with a 16 year old druggie child, fell into the water meter hole when the child forgot to replace the meter cover after hiding his drugs.

BUt I still have cold water.

Up until October I was a meter reader for the local water dept.

Figure that with maintenance, termite bond, water etc. you're going to be kicking in.

This creates a flow of water from the back to the front and onto the floor so the tenants will call you instead of letting it rot.

The owner pays the rest /gas, water, sewage/thank you

It has electricity, water and telephone accessibility.

(I did it successfully)6am call because there is no hot water, thermostat burned out in the middle of the night.There's other stories I have too and I'm a noob at landlording, I've only had tenants for 3 months.So realize it's like MikeOH says it's not nearly as easy as the gurus say.