Unless you own the building, you are not obligated to take care of this, the landlord is.
If they aren’t doing that, report them to the city.
Good looking out for your neighbors, but don’t let your landlord neglect shit.
Edit:
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities act requires landlords to provide their tenants with a habitable place to live (because that’s what they’re paying for).
Additionally, if anyone slips and falls on a property, the owner is legally liable. Those are facts: It doesn’t matter how you feel about them, they are what they are.
Downvoting the person informing you won’t change anything.
Downvote away if it makes you feel better, but if you’re a landlord, maintain your fucking property and take care of your people! Don’t be a piece of shit slumlord.
Can definitely be part of the rent contract though
Mowing and shoveling is standard lease stuff where I live.
(But not things like clearing gutters or worrying about ice dams)
Really? Can I ask where that is, because that sounds crazy.
Madison Wisconsin USA
I guess every area has it’s own weirdness… in my part of California, we have to provide our own refrigerators for our rentals! What!
That is obviously VERY jurisdiction-dependent. I’d be willing to bet it’s not even true in all US states, but nothing even makes me think that OP is necessarily American (I’m assuming you are because only Americans assume “the law” is universal).
Where I live I’m pretty positive that in a non-shared living space (i.e. a house) this would fall under reasonable maintenance like mowing the lawn, raking up the leaves, or cleaning up the sink. Is the landlord expected to drive over on every snowy day to shovel up the sidewalk? Fuck landlords but that’s definitely not a good use of anybody’s time.
Yep, I took a wild guess that they were American (possibly Canadian) because they’re on sh.itjust.works (hosted in NA) and the time they’re posting lines up with those time zones but you’re right: laws vary from location to location.
All states are subject to the Americans with Disabilities act (which is federal), so if they’re in America, it really is on the landlord to provide them with accessible housing.
Additionally, if anyone slips on a property, the owner of that property is legally liable (though in theory, insurance would cover most of the costs). If the owner refuses to pay for the resulting injuries, they can be sued in civil court and will likely lose.
Edit: Downvote all you want but thems the facts, clicking a button on the Internet won’t change it.
Friend, you have like 4 downvotes lol
I have pissed off 4 slumlords. Today was a good day?
It just doesn’t feel like worth the huge edit lol
That’s gotta be a local thing. I have a hard time seeing landlord snow removal making it into federal law (assuming you’re American).
If a disabled person lives there, then (in the US) landlords are legally obligated to provide the disabled renter with a habitable living space under the Americans with Disabilities act, which is federal.
It’s also worth pointing out, that anywhere in the US, if a person slips and falls on your property you (but mostly your insurance company probably) are responsible. So the landlord is open to additional liability there even if there are no local laws regarding snow removal simply because they are the owner of the property.
Great point in that first paragraph. In the second paragraph, it’s my understanding that you can’t sue if there was no expectation of safety. If the path isn’t cleared in the slightest, then you’re not liable. I also know that in some areas the owner can just write into the lease “you guys have to clear the snow” and it becomes the tenant’s responsibility.
Anyway, fucking, clear your sidewalks people, be nice.
You can sue for literally any reason you like in the US. Doesn’t guarantee success of course and you might even end up being liable for court costs in addition to your own lawyer (if you hire one) but even if the lawsuit fails, being sued is a pain in the ass to begin with so why even open up the opportunity? Just shovel the damn snow or hire someone to take care of it especially if you are renting to disabled people.
Slumlords will downvote but fuck those assholes.
On the one hand, salt destroys cars, which is based. On the other hand, salt destroying cars means more cars get bought, which is cringe. On the third hand, salt makes it easier to walk, which is based. On the fourth hand, salt is notoriously bad for the environment (nobody ever threatened to beet juice someone’s fields, you know) which is hella cringe.
I guess what I’m saying is skip the salt, use beet juice, and lay out spike strips on the road
On the fourth hand
Are you a Machamp?
Why beet juice? (I have a really hard time not calling it beetle juice)
Beet juice isn’t as good a de-icer as salt, but it does lower the freezing point of water and it doesn’t kill plants
Wouldn’t it make everything beet colored and dye stuff? Like let’s say I have white carpet and I use beet juice to de-ice my walkway, wouldn’t I get beet juice on my shoes and immediately dye my carpet once I walk inside? (If this is too American for you because in your country people remove their shoes, it’s common to have carpet all the way to the door in the US)
Idunno, maybe. I live in the US too, but I’m in an apartment so I’m not the one de-icing walkways. Maybe I should switch it to sugar instead of beet juice, since I’m pretty sure it’s the sugar in that that reduces the freezing temperature of water anyway, and sugar doesn’t (as far as I know) turn stuff red
Are you actually using beet juice? I would recommend sand, fine gravel or something else that prevents slipping.
Please done just put salt down without shoveling. It makes piles of slushy salt that at best are a mess, but likely will re-freeze into an uneven hazard. It’s also really hard on dog’s paws. An able bodied guy should be able to use a shovel.
I swear 1/2 the frozen mass outside right now is a mix of various salts of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Do all cities suck at snow plowing?
I use dog friendly salt.
You’re a good guy OP but someone in my city is being sued by their landlord specifically for doing what your post is about and supposedly ruining the pavement, so make sure to cover person #1 before others!
Yeah, that’s a real shitty landlord.
I wonder how those laws handle disabled people who can’t shovel snow and don’t have someone to do it for them. Expect them to hire somebody to do it? The disabled are generally not well off financially, so that’s not really a solution.
Knowing how much our system fucks over disabled people in other ways I’m going to guess that they’re still required to do it, so they either have to hire someone or do it themselves.
I’m sure you’re right.
They go on apps like NextDoor or Facebook communities pages and beg for help.
I highly doubt many are part of those groups.
Unfortunately in a lot of places “aging in place” isn’t a thing and the only housing stock is single family homes.
Ideally you could stay in your neighborhood and change your housing to accomodate your situation.
Well, the city still expects lawns to be mowed even if you’re disabled here, so I’d assume they expect the same of snow. But we don’t get much snow since I’ve moved in with my husband who has cerebral palsy. With the lawn, they send a letter first saying fix it. You fix it, call them, and it’s done. I’d think the same with snow, assuming the snow stuck around so long they had time to send a letter.
I don’t have a sidewalk in front of my home but where I work is on a walkable urban street. Clearing the sidewalk when it snows is such an enjoyable thing to do I look forward to it. Pedestrians walking by sometimes say thanks, the woman across the street brought me coffee once. Her husband uses the bus stop so I always clean the bench. Technically I’m getting paid but I do much more than I’m obligated to, sometimes I’ll clear a couple driveway skirts.
