Managing your rental
Snow removal in Ontario rentals: landlord or tenant?
Who shovels at an Ontario rental: what the law and the standard lease say, who is liable for a fall, and the sidewalk rules of nine cities.
By the Tenant.ca teamUpdated 3 min read
In this guide5 parts
The short answer
The Residential Tenancies Act doesn't say who shovels, and Ontario's standard lease has no snow clause, so for a house or a unit with its own entrance it comes down to what the two of you write into the lease's additional terms (section 15). Where the province's maintenance standards apply, though, the landlord is the one answerable for safe paths, stairs and parking (below). If the lease says nothing, both of you can be liable if someone falls, so settle it in writing.
Cities set rules for the public sidewalk in front of a property, and several put that duty on the owner or the occupant, with deadlines of 12 to 24 hours. Those are below.
Who is liable if someone slips
Under Ontario's Occupiers' Liability Act, an occupier is anyone in physical possession of a property or with responsibility for and control over its condition, and there can be more than one. A tenant living there is an occupier, and a landlord who is responsible for maintenance or repair owes the same duty of care for dangers that come from not doing it (section 8).
Since a 2020 amendment, anyone hurt by snow or ice has to give an occupier, or the occupier's snow-clearing contractor, written notice of the claim with the date, time and place within 60 days, or they can't sue (section 6.1).
City sidewalk rules, checked November 9, 2026
Each row comes from the City's own page or by-law, linked below. Where a by-law names the owner or occupant, a tenant can be the one the City holds to it, so the lease should say who does it.
| Where | The rule |
|---|---|
| Toronto | The owner or occupant must clear the sidewalk in front of, beside or behind the building within 12 hours after the snow stops, unless the City clears it at that location (Municipal Code chapter 719). Snow from private property can't be moved onto a road, sidewalk or laneway. |
| Mississauga | City crews clear City-owned sidewalks and the snow at the end of driveways. Owners of multi-unit residential buildings must keep their ramps, sidewalks and parking areas clear (property standards). |
| Brampton | Owners and occupants must clear the sidewalk by 11 a.m. the day after a snowfall ends (Snow and Ice Removal By-law). The City clears sidewalks on primary roads, by City properties and on transit routes. |
| Markham | The City ploughs all sidewalks within 24 hours of the end of a snowfall of 5 cm or more. |
| Oakville | The Town clears its sidewalks, about 1,100 km of them. |
| Hamilton | Owners and/or occupants must clear the sidewalk next to the property, and roofs that overhang it, within 24 hours after a snow event ends (By-law 03-296), unless the property is on the City's sidewalk clearing route. |
| Kitchener | Property owners must clear the sidewalks around their property to bare pavement within 24 hours of a snowfall. |
| London | The City clears sidewalks within 48 hours after a snowfall and asks residents to shovel in front of their homes. Downtown owners must clear the sidewalk in front of their business under a City by-law. |
| Windsor | Owners and/or tenants must clear the sidewalk in front of the property within 12 hours, or 4 hours for commercial properties (By-law 8544). |
- City of Toronto: Municipal Code chapter 719, Snow and Ice Removal (PDF)toronto.ca
- City of Mississauga: snow clearingmississauga.ca
- City of Mississauga: property standardsmississauga.ca
- City of Brampton: snow and ice removalbrampton.ca
- City of Markham: winter road servicesmarkham.ca
- Town of Oakville: snow clearingoakville.ca
- City of Hamilton: sidewalk snow clearinghamilton.ca
- City of Kitchener: snow removalkitchener.ca
- City of London: winter maintenancelondon.ca
- City of Windsor: snow removal FAQcitywindsor.ca
What to write into the lease
If a tenant is going to clear snow, the additional terms should say exactly what. A clause that covers these avoids most winter arguments:
- Which areas: the driveway, the walkway and steps, and the public sidewalk if the City expects the owner or occupant to clear it
- By when after a snowfall, at least as fast as the City's deadline
- Who supplies the shovel and the salt or sand
- What happens when the tenant is away, or if the landlord hires a contractor instead
- That the roof, eavestroughs and anything structural stay the landlord's to deal with
In apartments and condos
In an apartment building, the shared walkways, steps and parking are part of the property the landlord runs, and Mississauga's property standards, for one, put them on the owner of a multi-unit residential building. In a condominium, the condo corporation usually clears the common elements under its declaration and rules; a unit owner renting out should check what the corporation does and what it leaves to residents.
Where Ontario's own maintenance standards apply, which is where no municipal property standards by-law covers the building (Residential Tenancies Act, section 224), the landlord has to remove unsafe accumulations of ice and snow from exterior common areas such as paths and parking (O. Reg. 517/06, section 26), and keep driveways, walkways, outside stairs and parking areas safe for normal use (section 28). Most cities have their own property standards by-law, which sets the rule there instead.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the Occupiers' Liability Act, the Residential Tenancies Act and O. Reg. 517/06 on e-Laws, Ontario's standard lease and the City pages and by-laws linked above as read on November 9, 2026.