Snow clearing: what falls to the owner, what falls to the council

The public road is not yours to clear

Roads, streets, pavements and municipal car parks are cleared by the commune or by a contractor it appoints. A private firm cannot replace that service, and it should not pretend to: clearing a public road with a private machine can expose the operator and the owner.

What the commune does not clear is everything behind the boundary: driveways, garage ramps, courtyards, private car parks, paths to the entrance and terraces.

Where the liability sits

If a visitor slips on an uncleared path inside the property, the owner is exposed. If a tenant cannot get their car out, the landlord is exposed. Landlords and co-ownerships therefore have an interest in a written contract, not an informal arrangement with a neighbour.

A seasonal contract states the trigger — the snow depth at which the team comes out — the surfaces covered, the number of passages included, the salting, and the priority order between sites when it snows everywhere at once.

Roofs are a separate question

Clearing a roof is not the same job as clearing a driveway. It requires fall protection, a method for removing snow without damaging the covering, and often a height qualification. It is assessed case by case and is never included silently in a ground-clearing contract.

In practice, most Alpine buildings do not need the roof cleared after every snowfall. What matters is the snow load after a heavy episode and the state of the gutters and snow guards before winter.