Ha! I’ve tried that in the past.
The tenants that would agree to that, are the same ones that will saw open a hole in the wall, and do Mickey Mouse repairs and just leave a hole for you to fix, or worse… flush their feces-pee-and-toy filled toilet over and over, trying to make it flush …only to flood the entire house with pee and poop flavored water.
…all because I didn’t want to be bothered with repairs.
To be real, a 3-year old putting a rag, toy, diaper, etc. down the toilet is NOT negligence, it’s ‘renting to a family with a 3-year old.’
They may take responsibility for the clog, but frankly it’s the cost of doing business with a family with a 3-year old.
A frozen pipe? Caulking? Water damage? Really? It’s the tenant’s ‘problem’ to solve?
BTW, if I were renting again, and I was at the table signing, and the landlord tried your trick on me, I would have some fun with this, knowing that I had no intention of signing with those terms.
I would say something like, “Yeah, the last time we had a frozen pipe, there was a bunch of wall damage, but we got the pipe fixed and just covered the hole in the wall with some duct tape, and painted it. You couldn’t hardly tell there was no wall left. And I’ve got a buddy that is into plumbing and stuff. He doesn’t have a license, or anything, but he did a fine job of replacing the pipes at Grandmother’s house. You could hardly see the pipes running over the roof and down side of the house. They just blended right in with the electrical wires he stapled to the roof. He’ll treat us real good on price.”