The Ontario Court of Appeal recently ruled on an Ottawa Judges decision regarding a tenant’s responsibility to clear ice and snow after someone falls and hurts themselves. Are the tenants liable if they fail to clear the snow?
In this case the landlord had insisted on a clause in the lease that the tenant was responsible for clearing ice and snow and argued that therefore it was the tenant’s responsibility to pay the damages suffered by the person who fell because they didn’t clear the ice and snow.
The tenant argued that the clause in the lease was contrary to the Residential Tenancies Act. Both the original judge and the Ontario Court of Appeal both decided that the clause requiring the tenant to clear ice and snow was valid.
But here is the interesting part. The area in question was a walkway that was used exclusively by the occupants of and visitors to the rental unit. For example, say you rent an entire house and the lease requires you to clean the walkway and steps to the house of ice and snow. If someone falls because of ice on the walkway or steps this decision says that you are responsible.
But what happens if you are renting one unit in a house that is a triplex and the landlord asks you to be responsible for clearing ice and snow and puts such a clause in your lease. Now in this case the walkway and steps are used not just by you and your guests but by everyone in all three units and their guests. Would the same clause be void because of the Residential Tenancies Act? Well we can’t really say at this point – we would need another judge’s decision to say for sure. But how would such an arrangement be any different than a regular cleaning contract that landlords often enter with a business that provides snow clearing services?
My guess is that such a clause may not absolve the landlord of responsibility where it’s a multiple unit building with shared walkways.