Snow Removal and Falling Ice: 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 common winter accidents, which the Civil Code does not treat the same way, 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 Civil Code of 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.

A 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.

Who clears the roof. 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. These recommendations are addressed to owners. For the work itself, the CNESST (Quebec’s workplace health and safety board) asks crews clearing a flat roof to set up, before winter, a warning line creating a 2 m buffer zone all around the roof, which is not cleared, and to mark off the area on the ground where snow and ice fall. A quote that says nothing about these measures deserves a question. The winter task list for a house is in winter home maintenance in Quebec, and the life of the roof in 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. Other winter losses and how they are covered are described in common home insurance claims in Quebec.

The sidewalk in front of your house is not yours

In Montreal, it is the City that clears the sidewalks and the streets. Its page, updated on October 15, 2026, describes the operations: salt and crushed stone as soon as the roadway and sidewalks are slippery, plowing from an accumulation of 2.5 cm and haul-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 Civil Code 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 to the City’s snow dump. By-law L-12137 also prohibits blowing snow onto, putting ice on or burying a fire hydrant, whatever its colour.

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, and that some boroughs allow it in specific cases, sometimes with a permit. Its page on putting snow in the street, updated on September 22, 2026, gives the rules for the 2026-2027 season:

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. The car shelter rules are detailed in shed, carport and garage permits. 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 Civil Code 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, with registrations 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 City specifies that the contractor is responsible for any damage caused to private or public property during operations.

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. No official source publishes a rate for a residential contract.

The clause that says the contractor is responsible for nothing. Article 1474 of the Civil Code 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, and what a winter visit reveals before a purchase in buying a home in winter in Montreal.

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.

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