Ok ladies and gents. We had bad ice storms the past couple of day. Not...

Ok ladies and gents. We had bad ice storms the past couple of day. Not sure if this happened at my property or not. Nothing has been reported. I don’t have to many elderly. I know for certain that we don’t salt or sand. What are your opinions.

Josh McKibben I don’t think you’d be at fault but regardless your insurance should cover it.

Guest Insider Insurance will cover it

Guest Insider So? If he or she falls out on the streets.. who are they suing? The city? The county?

Guest Insider That would be a question for your property’s attorney. There are many factors that go into it to determine liability and the % of liability that belongs to the company.

Guest Insider Act of God exclusion may apply.

Guest Insider So true-- I was sued (no even on my property when plantiff finally turned in pictures). Every state law differs-- the person has to take reasonable steps to avoid it. So if you mark it off and they walk there anyway, you might be off the hook

Guest Insider We do not provide safety. I work in Florida it would be like suing use because they got injured in a hurricane. We prepare the best we can’t but your health and safety is ultimately up to you.

Belinda Morgan If we salt or sanded and they still fell they would still sue us for not doing it right. Lol We do make them sign a paper stating Owners Non-Liability.

Alyssa Smith A lot of leases state that the owner is not liable for issues due to inclement weather, fire, flood, etc.

Belinda Morgan Alyssa Smith exactly and we are also not the city or DOT we don’t have equipment to take care of a huge complex.

Alyssa Smith Belinda Morgan yes! And, it’s called common sense. If the entire city is experiencing inclement weather, maybe don’t go trying to walk around on the ice

Guest Insider Doesn't matter, they can still sue and probably receive damages

Kathi Marie I have an area at one of our larger complexes where we don't have onsite mgmt. We snow blowed and salted when we had a storm last week. This one corner accumulates big icicles that drip and get icey in one spot. we proactively put a huge bucket of the good salt (it's been hovering in the 5 degree temps here). We can't be watching that sidewalk 24 hours a day. My staff is busy. they check it once a day and put more salt down and chipped away a layer of ice. This one resident keeps harping about it. I can't control the speed with which icicles form and melt either. I feel as long as we are salting daily and they have a supply of salt, we should be good. Common sense right?

Melinda Sharp Kathi Marie what is causing the formation of icicles in that one corner? A known hazard is cause for concern and needs to be remediated, in my opinion. I’m not an attorney, of course. Just my 2 cents though… I have had buildings with poor insulation with northern exposures prone to this kind of thing. You might consider working on fixing ice dams on rooflines, etc. at some point. We did and it stopped the problem.

Kathi Marie Melinda Sharp it’s more of a landscaping/actual land situation. That (cement) has been repaired in the past. It all slopes to one corner!

Guest Insider Insurance. This is the same for single family homes. If someone comes on your property and gets hurt, it's your responsibility

Guest Insider Obviously check with an attorney but it is an act of nature not negligence.

Guest Insider I am in Texas also. I have always been advised (by legal) that we have more liability if we attempt to clear it and someone falls than if we leave it as is.

Judy Green Belinda Morgan agreed we only salt the front door area and I do not want to do that, however I am required by corporate.

Belinda Morgan Judy Green thank goodness we aren’t a corporate owned property.

Guest Insider Depends on who owns the property that they fell on who is liable. But, yes they can and probably will sue. Many companies have a slip and fall line item in their budget as it often is a cost of doing business. Should be submitted to whoever handles legal/insurance claims at your company.

Guest Insider There are clauses in the lease that state we cannot guarantee anyones safety. We actually had this happen last winter, an elderly man fell and broke his arm in our parking lot even after it had been ice melted. He did not try to blame us but we did do everything we could to help him, above an beyond type stuff. Delivering his packages and mail to the door, picking up his trash, anything like that to make things easier on him while he was healing.

Grace Law In MA slip and falls during the winter are common enough that we go over procedures in our manager meetings. It could be a liability claim and we would subrogate to our plow vendor. We require the plow companies to keep records of when they were on our property and what was done.

Guest Insider We were not allowed to sand or salt because of liability It's considered an act of God

Sarah Trefz Watson I think it depends on rhe laws in your state.

Guest Insider Check state laws. Some say all sidewalks must be cleared within 24 hours of a snow event

Mike Smith Soooo…I’ve retired from multifamily, but some people need to own up to their clumsy and/or being stupid.

Guest Insider Quiet enjoyment is pretty self explanatory.I continue to be stunned at the variety of attitudes towards building a comprehensively safe and enjoyable living experience for residents.

Amber Smalls Wow that’s where I grew up!

Shannon Ray I'm in Ohio, and I think there is a law/statute that caution needs to be exercised because snow and ice can cause hazardous conditions. Depends on the state you are in. I would contact your attorney, they will be better able to guide you.

Guest Insider As a former Apartment Manager of over 40 years, in Texas, apartment communities are not at fault due to ice. They do not need to salt or do any ice remediation at all. Act of God! Hope this helps.

Guest Insider Contact an attorney ASAP

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