Also, need to address the fact that the tenant has the responsibility to secure the building, but has no custody of items not owned by the tenant that may be stored inside.Don't want a tenant to feel like they have to watch your stuff or be responsible for it.The secured area protects both of you.

Offer to extend your lease if the items are taken care of in a reasonable time frame.

Seems like something the landlord should be doing. ..same with the furnace filter. ....I wouldn’t trust a tenant to handle these items.

To add insult to injury, the small benefit is only received if you itemize your deductions.

I agree with Jon that the garbage disposal is just another item that will brake.

Vikram is totally correct.If you have the desire to "create" an irrevocable trust, make sure that the Attorney is experienced in Estate Planning.Also, another great item is to have both a CPA (experienced in Estate Planning) and a CFP (if you know a good one) review the documents.I will assist ing answering some general questions if you want my opinion.

So, a reasonable expectation might be taxes, insurance, a month's vacancy, half a month's rent to fill the vacancy, and some amount of maintenance.Big ticket items, like furnances, roofs, and sewer lines, do need to be replaced periodically.

I would imagine things like a new roof would cost more than the $5-10k or so people seem to be stashing away so I'm curious how those items get funded. 

We found items of furniture, possessions and some assorted junk.

They actually used very little of any of the "disposable" types of items like the toiletries, but it's a small expense to keep your guests from the possible hassle of spending all day traveling and then say...oh no, I forgot toothpaste...and they need to run out at 9PM trying to find a store in an unfamiliar city that sells what they need.