When there are any issues between tenants and landlords, the tenants can only bring cases against the owner of the property, and this is where strong tenant lease agreements, which spells out in detail as to who is responsible for what is important... for example, spelling out that a tenant in a single family house is responsible for snow removal from the sidewalk in front of the house in New England is important in the lease agreement, and if they do not do it, you will charge them a fee for doing it on their behalf and they would pay all the fines that may be incurred as a landlord (owner of property). 

All it takes is one person tripping or slipping on a sidewalk and they have a lawsuit.

I told myself that running a rental property business was exactly the same as running a gas station, liquor store, or any other type of business and every type business has inherent problems that can drive most people crazy.So, I closed escrow on my first 28-unit building, called in my bulldozer operator, knocked down the entrance doors to the courtyard, ripped out the trees, stairs, concrete sidewalks and swimming pool.

I am aware of one person in town who filed a lawsuit over a slip and fall on a landlords sidewalk. 

Instead take on a house with a short sidewalk.

Don't get too high-end with granite and don't put old sidewalk slabs in for countertop simply because they're durable and the sect 8 regs don't say you can't.Back to reading. :)

21 years ago I bought a 2 family house, in the two-bedroom unit of stairs if a woman lived there with her children, she brought her boyfriend there who is dealing drugs with tons of traffic coming in and out at all hours, I didn't want to go through an eviction as it would take a long time to have it and very difficult to prove that he lives there and is dealing drugs, I painted the entire house neon yellow and within two weeks they moved out, he put concrete in the toilet before , I spent an hour before I realized that this toilet had something more than just being clogged, I pulled a toilet out and broke it on the sidewalk and saw concrete inside, the building is still neon yellow till this day the address is 108 North 5th Avenue Long Branch New Jersey, look at it on Google Maps lots of laughs it worked.

The grass isn't trimmed back from the curb/sidewalk, shrubs overgrown, sometimes grass a foot high.Then when it snows you want your tenant to shovel and salt to reduce your liability?

Bought a new break too...learned how to fix it myself ($200)Painting three newly empty units (bought full, but... half the leases were up at purchase)Management company 10% (glad to have them, as this is my first purchase)Putting in a sidewalk, as the previous owner ripped out the old one to the laundry ($400)That being said.....

Is it just cosmetic, or is there a risk of the roots damaging the foundation or sidewalk, etc.?