Snow cleaning responsibilities with tenants

[Peter Morgan]

Hello,

What is the best way to manage and communicate snow cleaning responsibilities to tenants. In my area it's not possible to hire a professional who would come and cleanup whenever it snows for a flat yearly fee, I usually hire someone randomly on a ad hoc basis and it always gets stressful especially when there is heavy snow and i just end up scurrying to find snow cleaners during a snow storm.

I will be moving OOS soon due to my job reasons so I am planning to manage my home  remotely at least for the first year and then decide to either sell or hire s PM if needed , however it will be impossible for me to share any snow cleaning responsibilities with my tenants so I am at a loss on how to handle snow cleaning so I just wanted to know if it's okay to shift some or all of the snow cleaning responsibilities to tenants? If its okay what is the best way to script it in the lease.

I will greatly appreciate  inputs here.

Thanks 

[Krista Olen]

I think it is absolutely fine to expect tenants to take care of snow removal especially when snow removal companies are hard to come by or are unreliable. Here is an example of what I have included in a lease for a duplex where tenants are sharing snow removal responsibilities.

"Tenants are responsible for snow removal from their front door to the city sidewalk including any steps. Tenants must probably clear a path after snowfall. The path must be salted if ice forms or is expected. If a tenant lives in the downstairs unit, they are responsible for clearing the city sidewalk in front of the building."