Key Takeaways
- New York City requires the owner, tenant, or occupant of a building to clear the adjacent sidewalk within four hours after snow stops falling, not counting 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
- An injured pedestrian generally must show the owner created the icy condition or knew or should have known about it and failed to act in time.
- Because the clearing duty starts only after a storm ends, many falls during a storm do not lead to liability.
Snow and ice are a guarantee of New York City winters. When someone slips on an icy sidewalk and is seriously hurt, who is responsible?
In this TalksOnLaw Brief, TalksOnLaw host Joel Cohen explains New York City's sidewalk snow removal rule, Administrative Code section 16-123, the fines for ignoring it, and what an injured pedestrian must show to hold a property owner liable.
The Four-Hour Rule
Under section 16-123, Cohen explains, the duty to clear the sidewalk falls on the building owner, lessee, or occupant, which is why doormen are out scraping after every storm. The obligation does not begin with the first snowflake or with a set amount of accumulation. It begins when the snow stops: the sidewalk must be cleared within four hours after the storm ends, and the hours between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. do not count. If a storm ends at 9 p.m., the four-hour window starts at 7 a.m., so the sidewalk must be clear by 11 a.m.
Separate from any lawsuit, the city can fine those who fail to comply. The penalties are modest, starting at $100 to $150 for a first violation and rising to as much as $350 for repeat violations.
Proving Liability After a Fall
Cohen notes that the law could have adopted a walker-beware approach, putting the loss on the pedestrian who might have worn boots or slowed down. New York has not, in part because the threat of liability pushes owners and managers to keep sidewalks clear. A plaintiff generally must show one of three things.
First, that the owner caused the dangerous condition, including by clearing it badly; pouring hot water on snow so that it refreezes into a slick surface is one example. Second, actual knowledge and a failure to act: an owner knew about the snowstorm or freezing rain and did not clear it in time, as when a restaurant manager emails staff asking who will shovel and no one ever does. Third, constructive knowledge: the owner should have known about the ice or snow because a reasonable property manager would have discovered and corrected it.
Why These Cases Are Hard
These are not quick-win cases, Cohen explains. Because the clearing duty applies only after the snow or freezing rain stops, a pedestrian who slips while the storm is still under way may be unable to recover from the party responsible for that stretch of sidewalk. Many cases are dismissed on that basis.
What to Know Now
The rules described here remain in force. Section 16-123 still sets the four-hour clearing deadline, and since 2003, Administrative Code section 7-210 has made most owners of property abutting a sidewalk liable for injuries caused by failing to maintain it, including failing to remove snow and ice, with an exemption for owner-occupied one-, two-, and three-family homes used only as residences. New York courts continue to apply the storm-in-progress doctrine, under which owners generally have a reasonable time after a storm ends to clear the walk. Timing disputes are common: in Splaine v New Gold Equities Corp. (2025), an appellate court sent a case to trial where experts disagreed about whether the storm ended more or less than four hours before the fall. Owners who choose to clear during a storm must still do so with reasonable care.
