If Owners Are Responsible For Sidewalk Maintenance, What About Liability?

Hi Lenn,

I did a couple of posts about this very thing. The liability from a sidewalk in disrepair could be very costly.

There are a lot of insurance companies that exclude sidewalk maintenance and or liability as a coverage. To get coverage there needs to be a separate rider for just the sidewalks.  

Have a great day in Virginia.

Best, Clint McKie

Good morning, Lenn....very interesting.... in my area, the town pays for and maintains the sidewalks and roadways.... there's actually a law in MA and RI that unless the owner is warned in advance that the area is dangerous, and someone falls, that person has no grounds for a lawsuit....there has to be notification to the owner of that sidewalk about it's condition and danger....I guess the lawsuits were out of sight!!!

Wow Lenn-Either the HOAs or the city takes care of these things here, although it would be a good thing to make sure of just in case.  For those that need to be aware of this, you are right, before buying is the best way to find out about this.  I think I would be one angry person to find out that I was responsible for thousands of dollars in side walk repair if I was not expecting it.  

Now that I think about it, here in Crofton, MD the sidewalks are the responsibility of the homeowner, and thus, could be a liability as well. I wonder if I can put up a toll and charge people since I have to provide the maintenance?

Rich

Good morning, Lenn -- thanks for referring to my post.  The city of Los Angeles(obviously much bigger than Pasadena) is considering charging homeowners/business owners for the repair of sidewalks due to the financial shortfall in the city's budget and the decaying infrastructure.   I also read that Piedmont - a California city near Oakland has a similar program in place.  It's an interesting topic, that's for sure.   

Good morning Lenn. I listed a house once in a larger City south of my area and not only does the City demand you repair sidewalks PRIOR to close but they pretty much force you into using their crews. You don't have to but to use your own contractor it has to be permitted and reviewed by the City engineers both having fees that usually are higher than the repairs. Yikes. I would imagine with times getting tougher more municipalities will be trying to shift responsibility over to owners. Think liability insurance.

I was glad that no sidewalks were put in by my builder when we built the house.  Nothing to worry about cleaning the snow off of!

Lenn I am going to have to check it out, but I am almost certain that here in Connecticut the homeowner is not only responsible for the sidewalk maintenance, but is also liable if someone is hurt on the sidewalk in front of their house.