Snow Removal and Owner Liability in Quebec

A delivery driver slips in your driveway. A sheet of ice breaks off your cornice and dents the car parked beside it. Two ordinary winter accidents, which the Code civil does not treat the same way at all, and the difference decides who pays. Here are the two regimes, then what Montreal and Laval actually require, by-law number in hand.

Article 1457 or article 1467: two liability regimes

The general regime is article 1457 of the Code civil du Québec. Every person has a duty to abide by the rules of conduct incumbent on them so as not to cause injury to another, and a person who fails in that duty is answerable for the injury caused by that fault. The victim therefore has to prove a fault. Éducaloi sums up the test: you ask what a reasonable person would have done in the same circumstances.

Article 1465 adds a notch: the custodian of a thing is answerable for the injury caused by the autonomous act of that thing, unless they prove they committed no fault. The burden shifts to the custodian.

Article 1467 goes further. The owner is bound to make reparation for injury caused by the ruin, even partial, of their immovable, whether it results from a lack of maintenance or from a defect in construction. The word “fault” does not appear in that sentence. The word “owner” does.

An honest caveat: no official source consulted settles whether a block of ice that breaks off a cornice is “ruin” within the meaning of 1467 or a matter of custody within the meaning of 1465. That characterization is decided file by file before the court, with a lawyer.

The ice that falls off the roof

The Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) comes back to the subject almost every winter. Its news release of February 26, 2025 names the signs of overloading: cracks on interior walls, interior doors that jam or rub, unusual creaking, ceilings that deform. If those signs appear, the RBQ recommends clearing the roof no matter how much snow is on it.

Icicles on the edge. The RBQ invites owners to remove the ice and icicles visible on the edges of their buildings, because they represent a danger to pedestrians and cars. That is the most useful sentence in the release: it describes a public, documented maintenance duty. An owner who ignores it will have a hard time arguing that a reasonable person would have done the same.

The RBQ adds that clearing a roof is a risky operation, that it is better left to a specialized firm that will not damage the waterproofing membrane, and that emergency exits, balconies, sheds and garages also have to be cleared. See also the service life of a roof and of windows.

The visitor who falls in your driveway

We are in 1457, and the victim has to prove a fault. Éducaloi adds two nuances: liability can be shared, and the injured person’s own share of fault reduces the compensation they receive; and that person has an obligation to minimize their damages.

What home insurance covers. According to the Bureau d’assurance du Canada (BAC), civil liability is included in the home insurance policy, whether you are an owner or a tenant. The insurer pays your lawyer’s fees and your court costs if you are sued, and compensates in your place the person who suffered the damage if you are held liable. The BAC uses exactly this example: a delivery driver slips on a patch of ice on your staircase and can no longer work.

Two limits. Coverage stops at the limit of the contract, usually $1 million according to the BAC, and beyond that you pay the difference. The insurer can refuse to pay, for example if the event was brought about deliberately or if the declaration was untruthful. On the deductible, the BAC explains that it is subtracted from the indemnity paid for your own property; none of its pages consulted announces one on the civil liability side. Read your contract: nobody can guarantee that a claim will be accepted.

The sidewalk in front of your house is not yours

In Montreal, it is the City that clears the sidewalks and the streets. It spreads salt and crushed stone as soon as they are slippery, plows from an accumulation of 2.5 cm and hauls the snow away from 10 to 15 cm, according to three levels of priority that put major arteries ahead of local streets.

What it requires of you is shorter, and poorly known: clearing the main entrance of your building and the entrance to the parking. The passage of vehicles also leaves a snowbank in front of your driveway, and removing it is up to you.

If the fall happens on the public sidewalk. Éducaloi is clear: the city is not automatically liable. You have to prove a fault or negligence in the maintenance of the sidewalk, because no city can guarantee ground free of snow and ice at all times. The deadlines change with the damage: a written notice often of 15 days, sometimes 60 depending on the municipality, then six months to sue for material damage, against three years for bodily injury. Article 2930 of the Code civil explains that gap: a requirement of prior notice cannot defeat the prescriptive period where the action is based on bodily injury.

Where the snow may be put, and the fine that follows

Here the rules stop being provincial and become municipal.

Laval leaves no room: the snow goes on your own land or into an authorized dump. Montreal works borough by borough. The City says that in most boroughs it is prohibited to push snow into the street, onto the sidewalk or onto a public square, that some boroughs allow it in very specific cases, and that a permit priced per square metre of surface to be cleared may be required. Saint-Léonard tolerates deposits at the edge of the roadway only as new snow falls, in front of the property concerned, never for a business or an industry.

Laval adds two measured instructions: do not bury the fire hydrants, and install the car shelter at least 60 cm from the sidewalk or the street curb, or 1.2 m from the street if there is no sidewalk. Those distances are verified before a purchase, like the rest of the municipal framework attached to an address: the real estate broker in Laval page says what that verification covers.

And snow blown onto the neighbour’s land? No municipal page consulted deals with the neighbouring private lot: these by-laws govern the public domain. The Code civil governs instead, with article 1457 and article 976, under which neighbours must suffer the normal neighbourhood annoyances that do not exceed the limit of tolerance they owe each other. A snow blower aimed at the neighbour’s hedge all winter is nothing like a normal annoyance. The recourses are in our article on neighbour disputes.

The snow removal contract: what to verify before signing

In Laval, by-law L-12767 requires every contractor offering a private snow removal service to obtain a City permit. The fee is $116 for the first vehicle and $29 per additional vehicle, valid from November 1 to May 1. To obtain it, the contractor must attach proof of liability insurance of $2,000,000 and the registration certificates of the vehicles, then stick the sticker received in the upper right corner of the windshield.

The practical consequence is simple: in Laval, look at the windshield. No sticker, no proof of insurance ever filed with the City. Montreal also has its own permit process for private snow removal contractors.

The clause that says the contractor is responsible for nothing. Article 1474 of the Code civil prohibits excluding or limiting liability for material injury caused through intentional or gross fault, and prohibits any exclusion for bodily or moral injury. A broader clause is not worth what it claims to be worth.

Rented plex: liability for snow removal stays with the owner

Article 1854 obliges the lessor to deliver the dwelling in a good state of repair in all respects, to provide peaceable enjoyment of it throughout the lease and to maintain it fit for the use for which it was leased. Article 1864 holds the lessor to make all necessary repairs, except lesser maintenance repairs, which are borne by the lessee unless they result from normal ageing or superior force. The Tribunal administratif du logement (Quebec’s rental board) cites both articles in its list of the lessor’s obligations.

The TAL says more elsewhere: in its 2026-2027 rent-setting form, maintenance expenses are those the lessor assumes to keep the immovable, the dwellings, the land and the facilities available to tenants in good condition, and snow removal expenses are expressly included. When the TAL calculates a rent, snow removal is an owner’s expense. Laval puts it even more directly: the owner of a multi-dwelling building is responsible for clearing all of the tenants’ exits.

What the lease can provide for, and what it cannot. A lease can split the task, for instance leaving the tenant the balcony they alone occupy. Three things do not move. The lessor’s maintenance obligation stays written in articles 1854 and 1864. Article 1474 prevents excluding liability for bodily injury. And article 1467 designates the owner of the immovable, not the tenant: a lease clause does not change who owns the building. Day to day management is detailed in our guide on managing rental properties.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to clear the sidewalk in front of my house in Montreal? No, the City handles that. What falls to you: the main entrance of the building, the entrance to the parking, and the snowbank left in front of your driveway by passing vehicles.

My neighbour blows his snow onto my land. What can I do? The Montreal and Laval by-laws govern the public domain, not the neighbouring private lot. The recourse runs through the Code civil, articles 1457 and 976: dated photos, written demand letter, then an assessment of small claims.

An icicle from my roof dented the neighbour’s car. Will my insurance pay? The civil liability part of the home policy is there for exactly that: the insurer handles your defence and compensates in your place if you are held liable, up to the limit of the contract. But no claim is accepted in advance. Report the event and let the insurer analyze it.

Can I write in the lease that the tenant clears the snow? You can split the task, not discharge yourself of the obligation. Articles 1854 and 1864 remain, article 1474 prohibits excluding your liability for bodily injury, and the TAL counts snow removal among the lessor’s maintenance expenses.

How much does a residential snow removal contract cost? No official source publishes a rate, and none will be advanced here. The only amount published by a city in the region is the contractor’s permit in Laval.

To go further, read spring melt and water infiltration in the basement and the home maintenance replacement calendar.

Want to know what an address imposes in winter before you make an offer? Write to me: we check the city by-law, the roof type and the exits to be cleared. I am a broker, not a lawyer or an insurer: an active liability file is discussed with a lawyer and with your insurer.

Georges Matar

Residential Real Estate Broker · RE/MAX DU CARTIER INC.

Contact Georges