Academy/Parking, Roads & Vehicles
Snow removal
Two states, two very different rules, and the same underlying pattern underneath both.
Snow and ice liability has no single national rule; it is set by your state's common law and sometimes a specific statute. New Jersey gives associations narrow immunity from owner lawsuits, unless the board's inaction rises to gross negligence. Pennsylvania excuses ordinary slipperiness but not left-in-place refrozen ridges. Check your own state.
There is no single snow removal rule
Every board eventually asks the same question after the first bad storm: are we required to clear the parking lot, and are we exposed if we don't? There is no federal snow removal law and no uniform state standard. This Course found detailed, citable rules in only two states, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and they work in completely different ways, one through a specific statute, one through judge-made case law.
Your own state's rule is very likely neither of these two. Check with your association's attorney or your state's case law before adopting either one as your policy.
New Jersey: a narrow shield, not a blanket one
New Jersey has a statute that can shield a qualifying community association from a bodily injury lawsuit brought by one of its own owners over a common area hazard such as unremoved snow or ice. The shield is narrower than it sounds. It does not protect the association from a claim brought by a guest, a delivery driver, or a contractor, only from claims by owners. And it disappears entirely if the board's conduct amounts to gross negligence, meaning it knew about a hazard and chose to leave it in place.
"the knowledge of snow and a decision to leave the snow in place on common element sidewalks creates a risk that a court could find gross negligence."
Source: Decoding Snow Clearing Liability for HOAs, Condos and Community Assets, Becker & Poliakoff
Gross negligence in that same source is described as the "failure to exercise slight care or diligence," a much lower bar to clear than most boards assume.
Pennsylvania: liable for ridges, not for ordinary snow
Pennsylvania takes a different approach, built from case law rather than a statute. Its Hills and Ridges doctrine generally excuses a property owner, including an association, from injuries caused by a naturally slippery, generally icy surface. That protection has a real limit: it does not cover a man-made ridge of refrozen snow that the board knew about and left in place.
"A property owner is typically not liable for injuries resulting from generally slippery conditions caused by a natural accumulation of ice and snow." Yet "if HOAs fail to remove snow that then freezes into ridges or elevations, they can be held liable."
Source: Decoding Snow Clearing Liability for HOAs, Condos and Community Assets, Becker & Poliakoff
What this means for your board
Both states land on the same practical lesson even though the rules themselves differ: knowing about a hazard and doing nothing is the dangerous part, not the storm itself. A written snow removal policy, a log of when walkways and lots were cleared, and an easy way for residents to report an icy patch all give your board evidence that it acted reasonably instead of looking away.
Whether your state gives associations any special protection at all, the way New Jersey does, or leaves the question entirely to case law, the way Pennsylvania does, is something only your own state's law and your association's attorney can answer.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A New Jersey board saw an icy patch three days ago and did nothing. A delivery driver slips and is hurt. Is the association's immunity statute likely to protect it?
A Pennsylvania board never touches a walkway after a snowfall. A resident slips on the flat, evenly fallen snow before anyone could plow. Under the Hills and Ridges doctrine, is the association likely liable?
A board in Ohio asks whether Pennsylvania's Hills and Ridges doctrine protects it from a slip and fall claim on an icy sidewalk. What is the accurate answer?
Sources
- Decoding Snow Clearing Liability for HOAs, Condos and Community Assets, Becker & Poliakoff (New Jersey statutory immunity and the Pennsylvania Hills and Ridges doctrine)
Parking, Roads & Vehicles
Snow and ice are one piece of your association's broader maintenance duty on roads and walkways. See Road maintenance for what a board actually owes and how to plan for it.
Whether an association has any duty to clear snow or ice, how much protection it has from injury claims, and whether that protection covers guests and contractors all vary by state and by case law that keeps evolving.