October 28, 2026 · 8 min read · By Tamur Shah

Do You Need a Lawyer for a Slip and Fall in Ontario?

You don’t legally need a lawyer for a slip and fall claim in Ontario, but some falls come with written-notice deadlines as short as 10 days. A claim against a city or region over a sidewalk or road that wasn’t kept in reasonable repair needs written notice to the municipal clerk within 10 days. A fall on snow or ice at a store, plaza, condo or other property covered by the Occupiers’ Liability Act needs written notice within 60 days.

Both notices have to give the date, time and location of the fall, and be served on, or sent by registered mail to, the right person. Where snow or ice on a sidewalk caused the fall, the municipality is only liable if it was grossly negligent. A fall on a wet store floor has no notice rule like these, but if the floor was wet from tracked-in snow or slush, send the 60-day notice anyway. Every claim, notice or not, also has to be started in court, usually within two years of the fall.

Who can be held responsible for a slip and fall?

Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act puts the duty of care on the occupier, and one property can have several. An occupier includes anyone in physical possession of the premises. It also includes anyone who is responsible for and controls the condition of the premises or the activities carried on there, or who controls who is allowed in. Depending on the property, that can be the owner, a commercial tenant, a property manager or a condominium corporation.

Where a tenancy makes the landlord responsible for maintenance or repair, the landlord owes anyone on the premises the same care an occupier owes, for dangers that come from failing to carry out that responsibility. A snow-removal contractor hired by the occupier can be a defendant as well.

Picture a plaza parking lot in Mississauga or Brampton. One company may own it, another manage it and the store you were heading into lease it, with a contractor hired to plow and salt. An occupier may avoid liability for a contractor’s negligence if, among other things, it acted reasonably in hiring a competent contractor and checking the work, so it’s worth naming the contractor too. Under the 60-day snow and ice rule, notice personally served on or sent by registered mail to one occupier or the contractor lifts the 60-day bar against all of them. A judge can also let a claim go ahead after late notice if there’s a reasonable excuse and the defendant wasn’t prejudiced in its defence.

What do you have to prove against an occupier?

An occupier has to take the care that’s reasonable in all the circumstances to see that people coming onto the property are reasonably safe while they’re there. That duty applies whether the danger comes from the condition of the premises, such as an icy walkway or a loose step, or from an activity on them, such as mopping during store hours.

That means showing what made you fall and that the occupier’s precautions fell short of what was reasonable. Much of the evidence is about the occupier’s system: how often the area was inspected, when it was last salted or cleaned, whether anyone had complained, and what was written down.

What changes if you fell on a city sidewalk or road?

The Occupiers’ Liability Act doesn’t apply to a municipality as the occupier of a public highway or road, so a fall on a city sidewalk is governed by the Municipal Act, 2001 instead. In Toronto, including Etobicoke, the same rules come from the City of Toronto Act, 2006, with the same 10-day notice to the city clerk. The Municipal Act requires a municipality to keep its highways in a state of repair that’s reasonable in the circumstances, and makes it liable for damages caused by its default. The city can still be an ordinary occupier of other property, such as a community centre parking lot, and there the 60-day snow and ice notice applies. If you aren’t sure whether the spot is a city road or sidewalk or private property, send notice to the clerk within 10 days and to the property’s occupier as well.

Snow and ice on a sidewalk get a stricter test. Except in case of gross negligence, a municipality isn’t liable for a personal injury caused by snow or ice on a sidewalk. The city also has defences, including that it didn’t know and couldn’t reasonably have known about the problem, or that minimum standards set under the Act applied and were met.

Written notice of the claim and of your injury, including the date, time and location, has to be served on or sent by registered mail to the clerk of the municipality within 10 days after the injury, or no action can be brought. Where two or more municipalities are jointly responsible for the road, it goes to the clerk of each. The Region of Peel is responsible for some roads in Mississauga and Brampton. Ontario has changed the law to move them to the cities, with the handover set for July 1, 2027. Until then, if you fell on or beside a major road and aren’t sure whether it’s a city or regional road, send the notice to the Region of Peel’s clerk as well as the city’s. As with the 60-day rule, late notice isn’t always fatal if a judge finds a reasonable excuse and the municipality wasn’t prejudiced in its defence.

What evidence should you collect in the first days?

Photograph the spot before it changes, close up and from far enough back to show where it is. Photograph your footwear and keep the shoes or boots as they were. Get names and phone numbers for witnesses and any employee who helped. Report the fall in writing to the store, property manager or condo office, and ask for a copy of the incident report. An incident report or a 311 call doesn’t replace the legal notice: a city sidewalk or road claim needs the 10-day notice to the clerk, and for snow or ice on other property the 60-day notice still has to be personally served or sent by registered mail.

Ask in writing for any security video to be kept, because footage can be recorded over. Write down the weather and what the area looked like. See a doctor as soon as you can, tell them exactly how you fell, and keep receipts for treatment, medication, travel and parking. Get advice before you give a statement to the property’s insurer.

How can a claim be reduced, and what can it pay for?

If your own carelessness contributed to your injuries, the court apportions the damages in proportion to each side’s degree of fault. The defence may argue you wore the wrong footwear, were on your phone, cut across an uncleared area or walked past a warning sign.

Pecuniary damages can be measured in money and may include past or future medical bills, costs of care, loss of earnings and property damage. Non-pecuniary damages are harder to put a number on, and may cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, decreased quality of life and damage to relationships.

Close family members can have claims of their own. If the injured person is entitled to recover, their spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters can recover their own pecuniary loss from the injury, including a reasonable allowance for lost income or the value of nursing, housekeeping or other services they provide. Their damages may also include an amount for the loss of guidance, care and companionship.

Key takeaways

·One property can have several occupiers, and a landlord with repair duties or a hired snow contractor may also share responsibility.
·Against a store, landlord or other occupier, you have to show it didn’t take reasonable care to keep you reasonably safe.
·For a city or regional sidewalk or road that wasn’t kept in repair, notice to the clerk is due within 10 days, and for sidewalk snow or ice the municipality is only liable for gross negligence.
·For snow or ice on other property, including stores, plazas, condos and city property other than roads and sidewalks, written notice is due within 60 days to at least one occupier or the snow contractor, personally served or sent by registered mail.
·Your own share of fault reduces the award, so keep the footwear you fell in and get witness details early.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice, and every case turns on its own facts. If you have been injured, and especially in a matter involving slip and falls, Shah & Shah Lawyers offers a free consultation.

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