What is the situation with respect to the water heater rental after moving out as tenant?

I moved out at my previous location where I was a tenant and where I had a rental agreement with Reliance for the water heater.

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered that I hadn't cancelled the rental so I called them and they said they'd send me an adjusted last bill (covering up to about a month and a week or so past my move-out date). After telling them I was a tenant at the previous location, they asked for the name of the owner, which I provided.

I then spoke with the owner (we're on good terms as I had lived there for 22 years) and told him to ask his new tenants to open an account with Reliance in order for there not to be any issue with the heater.

The owner called me later and said that he would like to stop renting (though the Reliance account was never in his name) since the heater was leaking, and he also said the new tenants would prefer not to rent. When he spoke with Reliance, they wouldn't give him any details about the status of the heater nor would they discuss buying out the heater with him since he didn't appear in their records.

Am I somehow on the hook here for cancelling the contract without a buyout? The thought never occurred to me, tbh, and when I had started with Reliance I wasn't even aware of exit penalties/a buyout - I had simply done as the landlord asked (but have no record of that long-past conversation? I don't see how that would make sense given that the heater is not even on my current premises. Should Reliance be able to re-open the account that was under my name and allow the owner (after changing the account over to him) to do the buyout?

If Reliance does expect me to buy out the heater should I then expect the owner to reimburse me and incur the cost as if he had done it?

Would appreciate any advice or info wrt this.