Gotta Shovel Your Sidewalks–It’s Now the Law!

Just a reminder that starting this year, everyone in Massachusetts is legally required to keep their sidewalks clear of ice and snow.  Many cities already had ordinances requiring landlords and homeowners to keep their sidewalks clear, such as in Cambridge, but now the state requires it.

The Cambridge city website states:

City Ordinance requires property owners to remove snow from sidewalks next to their property or business within 12 hours of daytime snowfall and before 1:00 pm when it has fallen overnight. They must also remove or melt all ice within 6 hours of the time it forms.

Attorney Rich Vetstein has a nice article on the new Massachusetts law on the Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog, and the Boston Globe also writes about it in today’s edition.  Note that in Boston, according to the Globe, “City Hall, however, still bears the ultimate responsibility for injuries that occur on those sidewalks, White said. For that reason, communities that compel residents to shovel the sidewalks have financial and legal incentives to enforce their ordinances.”