08/24/2026
It's August. Snow is the last thing on anyone's mind.
Which is exactly why I'm bringing it up now.
Every fall, I hear from landlords who are caught off guard by the same question: who's responsible for clearing snow and ice — me or my tenant?
Here's the short answer: the landlord is responsible for maintaining the property in a good state of repair. That includes safe access. If someone slips on an icy walkway and the landlord hasn't made clear arrangements for clearing it, the liability exposure is real.
Snow removal can be assigned to a tenant in writing — typically in the lease or an addendum. But "assigned" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It needs to be explicit, agreed to, and reasonable given what the tenant is renting.
In a single-family home, that's more defensible. In a multi-unit building? Less so.
Lock in your snow removal plan before October. Don't figure it out in February.
Follow along for more on managing rental property in the Quinte region.
