Every owner of an estate hereafter maintaining any cellar, vault, coal hole or other excavation under the part of the street which is adjacent to, or part of, his estate, shall do so only on condition that such maintenance shall be considered as an agreement on his part to hold the City harmless from any claims for damage to himself or the occupants of such estate resulting from gas, sewage or water leaking into such excavation or upon such estate; and every such owner and every person maintaining a post, pole or other structure in a street, or a wire, pipe, conduit or other structure under a street, shall do so only on condition that such maintenance shall be considered as an agreement on his part with the City to keep the same and the covers thereof in good repair and condition at all times during his ownership and to indemnify and save harmless the City against any and all damages, costs, expenses or compensation which it may sustain or be required to pay, by reason of such excavation or structure being under or in the street, or being out of repair during his ownership, or by reason of any cover of the same being out of repair or unfastened during his ownership.
(304 Mass. 18; Reg. Bd. of Ald. October 19, 1863; Rev. Ord. 1890 c. 18 § 12; Rev. Ord. 1961 c. 21 §18; CBC 1975 Ord. T11 § 167)