Ontario's 60-Day Notice Rule for Snow and Ice Slip Claims

In Ontario, a person injured by snow or ice on private property generally cannot sue the occupier or the snow removal contractor unless they gave written notice within 60 days of the fall. The rule sits in section 6.1 of the Occupiers' Liability Act, added by Bill 118 in 2020. The notice has to state the date, time and location of the incident and be delivered by personal service or registered mail.

For property managers and the contractors who clear their lots, that 60-day window changes how winter records should be kept. A claim used to surface a year or more after the fact, when nobody remembered which morning the lot was salted. Now most claims announce themselves within two months, while the evidence still exists, if the property is organized enough to find it.

What section 6.1 actually says

The section applies to personal injury caused by snow or ice. Before Bill 118, an injured person had the usual two-year limitation period under the Limitations Act and no obligation to warn anyone in the meantime. The amendment added a notice step in front of that limitation period. It did not shorten it.

The key elements:

• Who is protected. The occupier of the premises (owner, tenant in control, property manager acting as occupier) and an independent contractor hired by the occupier to remove snow or ice during the period when the injury happened.
• The deadline. Written notice within 60 days after the injury.
• The content. The date, time and location of the occurrence.
• The delivery. Personal service or registered mail to at least one of the protected parties. An email or a phone call to the front desk does not meet the standard on its own.

A detail that catches people out: an occupier or contractor who receives a notice must pass a copy along, by personal service or registered mail, to the other occupiers and the snow contractor for those premises. A property manager who gets a notice and leaves it in a drawer can create problems for the contractor and for co-occupiers such as a landlord or a tenant with control of part of the site.

When missing the deadline does not end the claim

The 60 days is not absolute. The Act sets out situations where a late or defective notice does not bar the action. Two matter most in practice:

• The injured person died as a result of the fall.
• The injured person had a reasonable excuse for the late or insufficient notice, and the defendant was not prejudiced in its defence. A long hospital stay is the classic example.

That second exception is why records matter even after day 60. If a claimant argues a reasonable excuse, the next question is prejudice: was the occupier's or contractor's ability to defend itself harmed by the delay? A property with complete logs and photos is in a strong position to show it can still defend the claim on the merits. A property with nothing is arguing about prejudice from an empty file.

Public sidewalks and roads follow different rules

Section 6.1 covers private property: plaza parking lots, office and industrial sites, condo common areas, retail walkways. Falls on municipal sidewalks and roads fall under the Municipal Act, 2001, which has its own notice requirement with a much shorter deadline (10 days in most cases). Toronto, Ottawa and other Ontario municipalities apply that rule to their own infrastructure.

For a commercial property, the boundary matters. A fall on the public sidewalk in front of a building is usually a municipal matter unless a local by-law makes the adjacent owner responsible for clearing it. A fall two steps further, on the private walkway to the entrance, is an occupier's liability matter. Contracts should name exactly which surfaces the snow contractor covers, so there is no debate about the strip between the curb and the door.

What a property should do when a notice arrives

Treat a notice as the start of a claim, even if the person never follows up.

1. Date-stamp it and record how it arrived. Registered mail receipts and process server details go in the file.
2. Forward copies by personal service or registered mail to every other occupier and to the snow contractor for the date in question. Keep proof of delivery.
3. Notify your insurer. Most commercial general liability policies require prompt notice of a potential claim.
4. Pull every record for the date and the 48 hours before it. Weather data, contractor visit logs, salt application records, photos, work orders, tenant complaints, security camera footage. Camera systems often overwrite after 30 days, so export the footage right away.
5. Ask the contractor for its own records in writing, including GPS or telematics data if its trucks carry it.

None of this requires a lawyer to begin, though most insurers will appoint one quickly.

Records that make the 60 days work for you

The notice rule gives an organized property a real advantage. Within two months, the evidence is fresh and usually complete. The question is whether the paperwork exists in the first place.

A useful winter file for each site includes:

• Time-stamped visit logs for every plow, shovel and salt pass, with the areas covered.
• Weather records for each event: start time, accumulation, temperature swings that set up refreeze.
• Before-and-after photos of entrances, ramps and high-traffic walkways.
• Monitoring visits on days with no snowfall, when melt and refreeze create black ice.
• A record of complaints received and how quickly they were handled.

Our post on snow event logging goes through what a defensible log looks like. The point here is narrower: under section 6.1, those logs get tested within weeks, not years.

What this means for snow contracts in Ontario

Because the contractor is named in section 6.1 and can receive a notice directly, contracts should spell out the notice obligations both ways. Useful clauses cover who receives notices on behalf of each party, the deadline for forwarding them (a few days, not the end of the season), what records the contractor keeps and for how long, and how those records are handed over if a claim comes in. Record retention should run at least past the two-year limitation period, and longer if a minor was injured, since limitation periods for minors work differently.

Indemnity and insurance clauses still matter, but they only help if the facts can be established. A contract that requires logs and photos, and a contractor that actually produces them, does more to protect a site than any hold-harmless wording.

For commercial lots in Toronto and Ottawa, we build each site's winter plan around documented visits, so the records are ready if a notice ever arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 60-day notice rule apply to falls on municipal sidewalks in Ontario?

No. Section 6.1 of the Occupiers' Liability Act covers private property. Falls on municipal roads and sidewalks are handled under the Municipal Act, 2001, which generally requires written notice to the municipality within 10 days.

Can an email count as notice under section 6.1?

The Act calls for personal service or registered mail. An email may still be relevant evidence that the occupier knew about the fall, but relying on it alone is risky for a claimant, and an occupier should not assume an emailed complaint is harmless.

Does the snow removal contractor have to forward a notice it receives?

Yes. Any occupier or independent snow contractor who receives a notice must send a copy by personal service or registered mail to the other occupiers and the contractor responsible for the premises. Contracts should name who receives notices for each party.

How long should winter maintenance records be kept in Ontario?

Keep them at least until the two-year limitation period has passed for every event in the season, and longer where a minor may have been involved. Many property managers keep three to seven years of winter records as a matter of policy.

Get a documented winter plan

If your Ontario property needs snow clearing with logs and photos you can rely on, tell us about your site and we'll prepare a quote.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current text of the Occupiers' Liability Act and speak with a lawyer about any specific claim.