If a tenant requests upgrades to home, what do you do?

[Sarah Young]

We are moving out of our home and have renters moving in. This home is large, very well kept, and in a very nice neighborhood. The tenants moving in are wealthy and have expensive taste. (Just to paint the picture for you 😉). Prior to signing the lease, the tenant requested a few things, one being a privacy fence for the backyard to replace the one side that has chain link fencing. We obliged, because we had been wanting to do it anyway, and I wanted to retain this tenant as this family felt like the best party interested, by far. My husband is currently building the fence, but we are short on both time and money as we are moving across the country and purchasing another home in the next two weeks, and hubby has been working 100+ hour weeks the last 3 weeks. It's challenging, but we are making it happen because we agreed to it. A few days ago, the tenant texted me asking if there was any way we could have a garbage disposal installed. The house is almost 100 years old, and doesn't have one. My husband could easily instal one (he's done them before), but we have so many projects with moving and getting both of our rentals in this town ready to rent on the same day we move, that we just don't have time. I told her we are short on both time and money, so we couldn't contribute either at this time. She said she would get a bid and let me know. Then today she texted "should I just go ahead and get it installed and we can square up later?" I never committed to paying for it, and I don't know that I want to pay for it. But if it's an improvement to my home (which I didn't request or agree to doing), do I contribute part? I was thinking of saying we would buy materials (the disposal), and she could pay for labor. Because if we had more time, my husband would be installing it and we wouldn't be paying for labor, but we would be paying materials. Thoughts? How have you all handled situations like this in the past? Thanks for your help!