what are typical tenant responsibilities when it comes to snow/ice?

[nageov3t]

there's nothing in the lease about it except that the landlord is not responsible for snow removal in the driveway/parking lot that the 4 people in my building share... I'm just wondering what my legal liability is -- if any -- regarding snow/ice on the sidewalk.

I live on the first floor, with a backdoor that takes me about 5' away from my car, so thus far, I've been completely ignoring the front of the building that I live in, especially since I never use the front door myself (even my friends/ups/fedex know just to come straight to the back by now).

looks like the couple on the second floor has been ignoring it as well, though. they just shoveled a path to get from the front door to the driveway and left the sidewalk covered in a sheet of ice.

in the last place I lived, the landlord took care of snow removal 100%, but he also lived there (my current landlord lives about 15 miles away).

 

[Crono]

If you are in doubt about your liability, the best thing to do is just clear the sidewalk of ice and get anyone who is willing to help you out.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: loki8481
there's nothing in the lease about it except that the landlord is not responsible for snow removal in the driveway/parking lot that the 4 people in my building share... I'm just wondering what my legal liability is -- if any -- regarding snow/ice on the sidewalk.

I live on the first floor, with a backdoor that takes me about 5' away from my car, so thus far, I've been completely ignoring the front of the building that I live in, especially since I never use the front door myself (even my friends/ups/fedex know just to come straight to the back by now).

looks like the couple on the second floor has been ignoring it as well, though. they just shoveled a path to get from the front door to the driveway and left the sidewalk covered in a sheet of ice.

in the last place I lived, the landlord took care of snow removal 100%, but he also lived there (my current landlord lives about 15 miles away).

leave it unshoveled...let someone fall and let the courts sort it out. That will tell you who is liable.

 

[KarmaPolice]

If its not in the lease I would say its your responsibility....but in either case why not just shovel it and not have to worry about it? I know in my township that I was living in when I was renting, if you didn't shovel it, they would give you a fine...which I got a few times

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
If its not in the lease I would say its your responsibility....but in either case why not just shovel it and not have to worry about it? I know in my township that I was living in when I was renting, if you didn't shovel it, they would give you a fine...which I got a few times

I'll probably suck it up and do it when I get home from work. hopefully the sun breaks it up a little... it's not snow so much as a solid sheet of ice.

I had to break out a hammer to get my car out this morning

 

[Crono]

I feel your pain. We have a garage, but a long driveway that's a pain to clear of snow and ice. I tried taking the car out this morning (luckily I'm off today, but have finals the rest of this week) and it couldn't get up the slight upward slope of our driveway because of all the ice. Had to chip away at it for a while (ran out of salt/deicer yesterday) and make several attempts to get the car out.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

If you are the tenant you have no responsibility. Its absolutely the responsiblity of the landlord to clear sidewalks and icy steps.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
If you are the tenant you have no responsibility. Its absolutely the responsiblity of the landlord to clear sidewalks and icy steps.

That's the rule here in NYC, as well. Check with your city.

There is one asshole on my block that NEVER shovels in front of his building. I've called the city on him 3 times in the past 2 years. We've had snow & ice twice this year bad enough for me to consider doing it again, one more strike and he's out, I'm calling again.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
If you are the tenant you have no responsibility. Its absolutely the responsiblity of the landlord to clear sidewalks and icy steps.

At any rate, if some one fell on it and broke their back...they'd be suing the owner of the building, not some tenant that probably has no money and definately has no insurance (for that kind of thing...renters doesn't cover that kind of stuff last I checked)

 

[FoBoT]

snow shoveling is good excercise

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
If you are the tenant you have no responsibility. Its absolutely the responsiblity of the landlord to clear sidewalks and icy steps.

At any rate, if some one fell on it and broke their back...they'd be suing the owner of the building, not some tenant that probably has no money and definately has no insurance (for that kind of thing...renters doesn't cover that kind of stuff last I checked)

Interestingly enough, in NYC, they would sue the city. If the landlord made no attempt to clear the snow/ice from in front of his building, the city is liable. If they made an attempt but did a poor job, the property owner is liable. Yeah, it's fucked up, I know Bloomberg was working to change it, I don't know if he has succeeded in doing so...

 

[TheNewbie]

:camera:'s of the zone in doubt.

 

[Pohemi]

Everywhere I've lived here in WI, it's always been stated on the lease who is responsible for lawn care and snow removal, either the landlord or the tenant. If you live in a four-plex, I can't believe the landlord can shrug off responsibility without assigning one or more of the building tenants to be responsible for it, but I don't know the laws where you live. I'd think if he didn't make arrangements to place responsibility with another person, that he'd be liable for any injury sustained due to negligence of snow/ice removal on the property, but what do I know...

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: TheNewbie
:camera:'s of the zone in doubt.

http://www.loki-online.net/images/ice.jpg

grey being areas that have been cleared of ice, blue = sidewalk/concrete covered in ice.

I'm in the unit on the right... I threw some salt down yesterday and it's more or less good now (or will be after temps in the 40's all day), though I'm still a bit curious.

 

[TruePaige]

It's the landlords responsibility.

In Maine ours lives like 2 hours away, but hires a plow guy to clear for us.

 

[amdskip]

Last year our landlord refused to remove the snow and it took tons of phone calls and finally he came over in person to check things out. There were 10 apartments in the building. Finally the one guy stood up majorly and told our landlord that he would be sucking you know what when he fell on the ice and sued him. Funny stuff and it worked