Delegation of winter service?

Winter service starts every year during the cold season. When passers-by are slipping in many cases the street residents are liable. In principle, the municipality is responsible for ensuring public safety on public sidewalks, but most often the municipal charter assigns this duty to landlords. In addition to the removal of leaves and waste, this includes the removal of ice and snow.

Often the statutes provide that the clearing must take place between 7.00 and 20.00 o'clock (Sunday and public holiday from 9.00 to 20.00 o'clock) immediately after the end of the snowfall or after the emergence of the smoothness. In case of permanent snowfall, the spreading work must be repeated.

The transfer of this obligation to the tenant is possible through a clear and unambiguous regulation, which can be made either in the lease or by a separate contract. The mere setting up and inserting a "snow removal plan" in the mailboxes, however, is not enough.

The areas to be cleared are based on the individual case, whereby the access routes to the rental property, in addition to the sidewalk and the entrance to the house, the access to the courtyard, the garage and garden and access to the garbage can be affected. There is no obligation - unless municipal regulations contain conflicting regulations - to vacate and scatter parts of the adjoining public walkway.

The equipment required to fulfill the snow-clearing obligation must be provided by the landlord. The costs of the grit are part of the operating costs and can be allocated to the tenants.

If the renter is not fullfilling the duty properly, the lessor may commission a winter service at the expense of the renter.

If the landlord has effectively transferred the clearing and spreading obligation to the tenant, he is only responsible for controlling and monitoring.

In property communities or in multi-family houses, the administrator is also responsible for the winter service and can hire a service provider with snow removal. With him, the Räumpflichten must be contractually precisely regulated to minimize future liability risks.