Ideally, you should prepare yourself and your property for the winter months as far in advance as possible. In North Rhine-Westphalia, these are from November to April. Think in good time whether and to whom you want to hand over the clearing and spreading service. If you are interested in our services as a commercial winter service, timely commissioning will help us to plan for the coming season.

As a rule, the municipalities themselves take on the clearing service on public roads. Wherever you, as the owner or tenant of a property, are responsible for road safety obligations, we come into action with our professional equipment. By what time the respective area must be accessible is regulated by each municipality in Germany in the winter service law.

The municipality is responsible for the traffic safety obligation for the public sidewalks, including street cleaning. As the owner of a private or commercial property, you are responsible for clearing and gritting your property. This includes homes, condominiums, parking lots, office and commercial buildings, and all other off-premises land. You therefore bear the traffic safety obligations for the sidewalks on your property. Vacation, illness, physical distance or personal circumstances do not release you from this obligation.

In short: yes! As the owner of the property, you are usually not on site yourself, so you cannot carry out the eviction obligation. If you transfer the winter service to the tenants, it is often only carried out half-heartedly. The same applies to the removal of grit. By using a service provider you save yourself stress, discussions and lawsuits in relation to the winter service. From this point on, you can go on vacation or be otherwise absent without worry, even in the cold winter with heavy snowfall and sudden ice formation.

Yes, according to the winter service law you can do that. However, you should consider whether your caretaker has free capacity and the appropriate equipment for the clearing service, the gritting service and the final street cleaning. The obligation exists on the property as well as the adjacent sidewalks and - depending on the municipality - the adjacent lanes. Depending on the object, this can cover a very large area and require costly removal of the grit after the winter service. In combination with the usual work of a caretaker, this quickly leads to an individual being overwhelmed.

We cannot give a general answer to this question, as the pricing – at least with our tailor-made offers – depends on several factors. Among other things, the type and size of the area, the local conditions, the time required and the required amount of spreading material play a role in the calculation.

In addition to the time, the statutes of the municipalities also specify the extent to which the snow is to be cleared. In most communities, the specified width on sidewalks is 1 to 1/5 meter to allow two passers-by to pass each other without problems. With regard to the way to the front door, this specification can also be limited to 1 meter width. These regulations relating to the obligation to clear apply for the entire period, i.e. Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays and public holidays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If the snow continues to fall, you will have to evacuate several times. The bad news: when it snows in North Rhine-Westphalia, it usually doesn't stop that quickly. According to the law, the additional snow must be removed immediately after the end of the snowfall. If it snows continuously, the evacuation must be carried out at appropriate intervals. Black ice and slippery, muddy snow are subject to immediate clearance. For you, this would mean that you have to clear several times a day to ensure accessibility.

According to the decision of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH, Az. VI ZR 49/83), residents are obliged to clear snow several times a day. Especially with persistent, heavy snowfall. In addition, street cleaning and the proper removal of grit after the winter service is obligatory. The court has not yet made a judgment on who has to get the necessary utensils and the appropriate grit.

This point is also regulated by the respective statutes of your municipality. The general rule is that snow and ice from properties must not be pushed onto the street. Snow from sidewalks is to be deposited at the side of the path. If the width of the sidewalk does not allow this, the snow may be stored between the sidewalk and the street, subject to certain specifications.

Yes. Our hotline (02166 9897-888) for clearing and street cleaning in the event of snow, ice and mud is staffed around the clock from October to April. Please call us to use our emergency service. We move out immediately - provided there is free capacity - and free your private or public property from snow and ice. If you have already hired us as a snow clearing service in advance, you can rest easy: In this case, our emergency service team will react proactively, autonomously and without delay to extreme and unforeseen weather changes as well as unexpectedly heavy snowfall and ice.

Yes. As the owner of an apartment building or a residential complex, you can claim the monetary expense for our services on the subject of gritting and clearance in your tax return. According to the judgment of the Federal Fiscal Court (Az. VI R 56/12), you may list the commissioning of a winter service as costs for household-related services, even though these take place in front of the door. The tax office deducts 20% of the costs from your payable income tax. On request, you must hand over the corresponding invoices and payment receipts to your tax office.

There are several bases for snow removal and spreading in the legal materials, some also result from case law.

Yes, there are no exceptions here, even if there is no sidewalk, an "imaginary sidewalk" on the street must be cleared.

The obligation to clear is completely independent of the season, i.e. always when there is snow and ice. That could be as early as October, for example!

All footpaths and driveways including stairs, ramps, etc. on the property and (!) the public footpath adjacent to the property.

The first step is the rapid mechanical removal of snow during and immediately after precipitation. Attention: No gullies and trenches may be laid!

There is no obligation to clear the ground (= clearing down to the asphalt), there is only an obligation to ensure slip resistance.

Road traffic regulations regulate for the whole of Germany that a homeowner (or a property association) is obliged not only to clear and grit the paths on their own property, but also to take care of the adjacent public areas (e.g. sidewalks) outside the property has!

Watch out for snowdrifts and ice formations on roofs. Until they are removed (immediate action!), the endangered traffic areas are to be secured with warning poles. The most dangerous time here is when the snow melts, when icicles or roof avalanches form.

You only have a good chance of not being prosecuted in the event of damage if you have cleared and spread thoroughly or have commissioned a suitable company to do so and can also prove this through records or witnesses. On the other hand, of course, pedestrians also have to adapt to the winter conditions, for example by wearing sturdy shoes.