Walking in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

Second place goes to absentee landlords of rental properties, especially single family houses and n-plexes, who leave the responsibility to their tenants even though it's the property owner who has the ultimate responsibility.

Like you say, ultimately it's the property owner who has the responsibility (like with a lot of other things with a property which would typically be the property owner's responsibility if they went sideways, but are typically delegated to the tenant), but I don't think it's improper to leave it to the tenants who actually live there. I can think of a few small multiplexes in my neighbourhood where the landlord obviously has some sort of contract with a snow removal companies, but that doesn't imply that the sidewalks will be cleared within 24 hours, 72 hours, or any length of time after a snowfall. I've had contracts with these companies, and you can get good ones, but they all have snowfall "triggers." If two centimeters of snow is enough to make sidewalks difficult for people on foot, it still might not be enough to get the company to come out and clear.[/quote]

A (distant) third place to home owners who go away for a week or three in the winter. I have a small amount of sympathy for them because they can't hire a snow-clearing company for such short periods. But even they now have options, e.g. TouchPlow offers on-demand snow clearing.

Most of the smaller companies who offer snow removal service will offer it for a one-month or even two-week contract. There are the issues I mentioned above, though, and a snow-removal company will never provide the same clearing that a diligent homeowner would himself.

My personal biggest beef are the houses where the driveway is obviously cleared religiously, and the sidewalk all but untouched. I guess these people don't walk, and so the sidewalk isn't front of mind for them, but it's infuriating to day after day find their sidewalk snow-and-ice-covered, while their driveway is obviously getting cleared after each snowfall. This isn't an uncommon thing.