Cleared Snow, Realized I (Tenant) Shouldn’t Be Responsible — Next Steps

I live in the upper unit of a two-unit dwelling. Over this winter, I have done 100% of the snow clearing of the sidewalk and walkway to the house, as well as clearing my emergency exit.

My lease states that snow clearing is the shared responsibility of both units, but I’ve just learned this isn’t true unless outlined in a separate contract with the landlord, usually for compensation.

I’ve spent many hours clearing snow with my own shovel and salt this winter. Should I send my landlord a bill? (Edit: I will likely discuss an arrangement for next winter instead, but I wanted to understand the process here.)

I wouldn’t be unreasonable about it, but given that the downstairs tenant has been away each time, this hasn’t been a shared effort and it wasn’t my job anyway. However, it was important to me to keep our sidewalk accessible for my neighbourhood.

Note: the landlord also came by one day, climbed over a snow bank to get to the gate to the backyard, and did not even bother to clear that single path that I hadn’t done.