Is it legal to cut down a tree on my own property?
Often not without asking first. NSW Planning says you generally need your council's permission to clear trees, even on your own land, and since the 2026 changes that includes protected trees that are dead or dying.
Other states protect trees in other ways. In Victoria, the canopy tree clause, planning overlays and council local laws can all apply to the same tree. The ACT protects trees on private land by size, and South Australia regulates trees by trunk size within mapped areas. The details live on our tree permit pages, state by state and council by council.
The penalties are real. The ACT says breaking its Urban Forest Act can bring on-the-spot fines or court-imposed penalties of up to $80,000 for an individual.
Why is felling a tree so dangerous?
Because so much can go wrong at once. Safe Work Australia's Guide to managing the risks of tree work lists falls from height, contact with power lines or underground services, falling objects, and crush injuries and cuts from chainsaws, woodchippers and stump grinders. It says the people doing the work, or standing near it, are the most at risk.
WorkSafe Victoria reported coroner research finding that 31 people died in Victoria from tree felling or related activity between January 2012 and September 2018. Only 13 of them were at work.
Trees also hide their weak points. Safe Work Australia says a competent person should do a visual tree assessment before anyone works on a tree, looking for decay, hollows and root plate failure. City of Sydney arborists once needed a drill test to find the decay inside a Moreton Bay fig's base, and an experienced arborist told the ABC that branches can look sound and then suddenly give way.
Gardening Australia's advice on large trees is plain: leave removal to the experts, and check with your council before you do anything.
Before you pick up a saw
Don't climb the tree, lean a ladder against it, or use a chainsaw off a ladder. Never cut anything near a power line, or a tree that's touching one: that's the electricity network's job, and our trees and power lines guide shows which network to call. After a storm, NSW SES says not to attempt removing trees or branches and to stay away from fallen trees and powerlines. If anyone is hurt, call 000.
Will my insurance cover it if it goes wrong?
Don't count on it. Financial Rights Legal Centre names damage to other people's property while you're cutting or lopping trees as a common legal liability exclusion. If your tree lands on the neighbour's fence or roof, that bill could be yours.
Read your Product Disclosure Statement before anything is cut, and if an arborist does the job, ask for their certificate of insurance first.
What you can safely do yourself
You can
- Prune small branches you can reach with both feet on the ground, using secateurs, loppers or a pruning saw
- Cut just outside the branch collar (the swelling where a branch joins the trunk), never leaving a stub
- Pull out seedlings and suckers by hand while they're small
- Rake up, mulch, water and keep an eye on the tree
- Photograph it, check the council's rules and get written quotes
Leave to an arborist
- Felling or dismantling any tree
- Anything that needs a ladder, a climb or a chainsaw
- Branches over the house, a fence, a shed or the neighbour's yard
- Anything near power lines
- Storm-damaged, split or leaning trees
- Stump grinding
How do I prune a small branch properly?
If a branch is small enough to cut from the ground with hand tools, cut it well. Whitehorse City Council says a good pruning cut sits just outside the branch collar, which holds the tissue that grows over the wound. Where you can't see a collar, the branch bark ridge (a wrinkle in the bark where branch meets trunk) is the guide.
Avoid cutting partway along a branch. That's a lopping cut, and Whitehorse says it makes the wound very hard for the tree to seal and can leave it open to fungal infection. Skip the wound paint too: AS 4373-2007, the Australian pruning standard, lists wound painting as unacceptable.
Timing helps. Gardening Australia's general rule is to wait until after the main flowering or fruiting period, though dead stems can come off at any time.
Even pruning can need approval. In the ACT, removing branches more than 100 mm across from a protected tree is major pruning and needs approval, and the Victorian Government warns that a protected tree may need a permit just to be cut back. Our lopping vs pruning guide and tree pruning page go further.
If the tree has to go, do it in this order
Check the rules for your address
Start with our tree permit pages, then ring the council and ask whether the tree is protected and what an application needs.
Get the tree assessed
If it's dead, dying or looks dangerous, an arborist's assessment tells you how urgent it is, and many councils want one as evidence.
Get written quotes
Compare the method, stump, clean-up, protection and insurance. Our guide to reading a tree quote has the checklist.
Wait for approval in writing
Nobody should start cutting until the council's answer is on paper, including for a tree that looks dangerous.
Tell the neighbours
Let them know the date, especially if the crew needs access or branches hang over the fence.
Keep clear on the day
Stay outside the exclusion zone the arborist sets, with kids, pets and cars well back.
Cutting down a tree yourself? Read this first: what to do next
If we could reach it from the ground with a pruning saw, we'd do it ourselves, after a quick check with the council. Anything bigger, we'd hand to an arborist and put our energy into the permit and the quote instead. Felling is the one part of tree work that's hard to undo when it goes wrong.
Want an arborist to look at it?
Tell us the job and your postcode, and a local arborist calls you to talk it through.