Lease agreement - lawn maintenance and upgraded home electronics

[Brenda Lee]

We purchased a home that comes with a ring doorbell and nest thermostat. Is it possible to write on the lease agreement that if these items break it is the responsibility of the tenant to maintain since these are upgraded features? Or do we as the landlord have to fix or replace with the exact same items since it was there when they first started renting?  Can we also ask that lawn maintenance is the responsibility of the tenant instead of hiring someone to maintain the lawn?

[Adam Martin]

Things are going to break and you are going to have to fix them.  I just bought a home with a ring doorbell and took it off, it seems creepy for me to provide and I don't know how to work it anyway.  For the nest really how do you break a thermostat and what is the useful lifetime of one.  I'd say they are unlikely to break and should last a while so I wouldn't worry about it but if it happens you need to replace.  You can always try to replace with a standard one with the tenant there but if they push back the house needs to have the same features upon repair it did when they signed the lease.  I look at it as it is staying with the house so it is on me for all appliances I provide.  For lawn maintenance I always put that on the tenant as their responsibility but do stop by once a year to trim bushes.  I only do single family and multifamily may complicate this but it works for me, you didn't ask but I also don't do snow removal.