What happens if my tree falls on a neighbour's property?

Two things decide these cases: whether the tree had visible defects that a reasonable owner would have noticed and acted on, and whether the owner can show they did. That makes routine inspection and a few dated photographs the most valuable thing a tree owner has, because the difference between an insurance matter and a personal liability is almost always evidence of what was known beforehand.

What you'll need

• A camera
• A notebook or diary
• Your buildings insurance policy

Step by step

1. Make the area safe first, before anything else.Casualties, then hazards. Keep everyone away from remaining broken or hanging limbs and from anything near power lines. Ring the electricity network operator's emergency number if any cable is involved and do not approach. If a road or footpath is blocked, ring the council or the police.
2. Photograph everything before it is moved.The fallen tree, the stump, the root plate, the damage, the surroundings, and especially any decay, cavity or fungal growth visible in the broken wood. Once the tree is cleared, this evidence is gone forever, and it is what determines the outcome.
3. Tell your insurer promptly.Buildings and contents policies usually cover damage caused by falling trees, and public liability cover within a home policy may respond to a claim from a neighbour. Notify early; do not agree liability or settle anything directly.
4. Tell the neighbour, and be decent about it.Contact them straight away, express concern, and agree who is clearing what. Do not admit fault before the facts are known, but do not be defensive either — most of these are resolved between insurers without any argument at all.
5. Understand the liability test.The general position is that a tree owner is liable for damage caused by their tree if it resulted from negligence or nuisance — that is, if they knew or ought reasonably to have known of the danger and did nothing. A healthy tree brought down by an exceptional storm is generally not the owner's fault.
6. Know what 'ought reasonably to have known' means in practice.It does not require an annual expert survey of every garden tree. It generally means periodic informal inspection by the owner, and getting professional advice when something visible suggests a problem — a bracket fungus, a crack, a new lean, heaved ground, dead limbs.
7. Recognise that a prior written warning changes everything.If a neighbour has written to you about the tree, or an arborist has reported a defect, and you did nothing, the 'ought to have known' test is satisfied. Equally, if you write to a neighbour about their tree, you have put them on notice. Keep copies both ways.
8. Expect insurers to deal with each other.In most cases each party claims on their own policy and the insurers sort out any recovery between themselves. That is usually much faster than trying to establish fault directly, and it is why notifying your insurer early matters.
9. Keep clearing the fallen tree separate from the damage claim.Policies often exclude the cost of removing the tree itself while covering the damage it caused. Check your wording, and get quotes before agreeing to anything.
10. Check protection status before clearing.A fallen or dangerous protected tree has emergency exemptions, but they are narrow. Photograph everything and tell the council as soon as possible, ideally before the work if there is any way to do so.
11. Prevent the next one.Inspect your trees twice a year, after storms, and keep a dated photographic record. It takes twenty minutes and it is the single most useful thing you can do both for safety and for your own protection.

Tips

• If you are worried about a neighbour's tree, put it in writing with photographs. It is polite, it may prompt action, and it makes any later damage foreseeable, which is the point on which liability turns.
• Do not clear the tree away before photographing the broken surfaces. Decay visible in a broken stem is the single most important piece of evidence in these cases, for both sides.
• A written arboricultural inspection every few years on a large tree near a house or a road is cheap insurance in the literal sense.

Common mistakes

• Assuming you are automatically liable — Ownership alone does not create liability. The test is about knowledge and reasonable care, and an unforeseeable failure in an exceptional storm is generally not actionable.
• Assuming you are automatically not liable — If the tree had visible defects, or you had been warned, the position is very different. 'It was an act of God' is not a defence when the tree was visibly rotten.
• Clearing everything before photographing it — The evidence of what caused the failure disappears with the timber, and with it your ability to show the tree looked sound.
• Ignoring a letter from a neighbour about your tree — It converts an unforeseeable event into a foreseeable one. Get the tree assessed and keep the report.

Questions people ask