For all of the reasons you mentioned our gas meters for central hot water located inside apartments have been an absolute pain in the proverbial to deal with. Also loads of residents very frustrated with estimated meter reads and the lack of trust in doing a self read.
Our building manager eventually negotiated with Jemena that we would be notified a few days before SkillTech (the new meter reading contractor) would be reading the meters. That got old very quickly and Jemena then approached us to have wireless meters installed at no cost to the Owner’s Corporation. The wireless meters were a drop in replacement for the existing meters so no pipe work was needed, just a bit of hot water down time & access to every lot. The wireless meters are read by a Skilltech person walking around the corridors with a reader. We’ve had wireless meters for 18 months now & no more complaints from any party.
Maybe you can try that route? We’re a large strata with ~330 lots.