Applying for tree consent when you do not own the tree

You can apply for consent to work on a tree you do not own. The council will deal with the application on its arboricultural merits and, if it grants consent, that consent removes the statutory prohibition and nothing else. It gives you no right to go onto your neighbour's land, and no right to cut their tree. Tree consent neighbour owned tree cases fail at that second step far more often than at the first.

So the practical sequence runs the other way round from the one most people assume. Sort out the civil position first, then apply.

Whether ownership is needed to apply

For a tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order, an application for consent is made under the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012. The form asks who you are, what interest you have in the land and who owns the tree. It does not require you to be the owner.

For a tree in a conservation area that is not covered by a TPO, the route is a notice under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, giving the authority six weeks in which to decide whether to make an Order. Any person proposing to carry out the works may give that notice.

In both cases the authority will want the owner to know. Expect the council to contact them, and expect the owner's view to be taken into account as a representation even though it is not determinative. An application made without telling the owner first will reach them anyway, at the point where it looks like something done behind their back.

Notifying the owner and what to send

There is no benefit in being coy about this. Write to the owner before you apply, and keep the letter.

1. Identify the tree clearly, by position rather than by species alone, with a sketch or a photograph.
2. Describe the works you want done and why, in plain terms.
3. Say that you will be applying to the council for consent and that the council will contact them.
4. Ask whether they agree to the works and whether they would prefer to instruct the contractor themselves.
5. Offer to pay, if you are the one who wants the work done.

Point five resolves a surprising proportion of these disputes. Where the neighbour's objection is really about cost, an offer to fund the work changes the conversation. Where it is about the tree, you will find that out early and at little cost.

Keep the description of works precise. A request to "cut it back" invites refusal from everyone involved. A request for a 2 metre crown reduction to the eastern side, with the cuts specified, is something an arboriculturist can price and a council can assess, and our note on specifying crown work so contractors price it correctly sets out how to write it.

Boundary trees and shared ownership

Ownership of a tree follows the position of the trunk at ground level, not the canopy and not the roots. A tree wholly within your neighbour's garden is theirs even if two thirds of the crown is over yours.

A tree whose trunk straddles the boundary is owned by both parties together. Neither can fell it without the other's agreement, and felling it unilaterally is an act against the other's property. That is an awkward position and it is more common than people expect on Victorian boundaries where the line runs through a hedge that has grown into a row of trees.

Where the boundary itself is uncertain, the title plan is a general boundary only. Resolving a disputed boundary is a separate exercise from resolving the tree, and it is worth knowing which problem you are trying to solve before spending money.

What consent does and does not authorise

This is the distinction that matters most, so it is worth setting out plainly.

The common law right to abate a nuisance by cutting back overhanging branches to the boundary line is long established, and it comes with two conditions that are routinely ignored. You may not enter the neighbour's land to do it without permission. And the arisings, branches and fruit alike, remain the owner's property, so the polite and lawful course is to offer them back rather than putting them in your green bin.

Where the tree is protected, that common law right does not override the statutory protection. Cutting back overhanging branches from a tree under a TPO without consent is an offence under section 210 whether or not the branches are over your land.

Carrying out works without the owner's agreement

If you proceed anyway, two separate liabilities arise.

Going onto the land is trespass. Damaging the tree gives the owner a claim for the diminution in value, which for a mature specimen tree assessed on a replacement basis can be a large figure. Courts have awarded substantial sums for the loss of amenity trees, and the fact that you held a council consent is no defence to a civil claim at all.

And if the works exceed what the consent permitted, or were carried out where no consent existed, the statutory offence bites too. Penalties for unauthorised works to a protected tree are set by the 1990 Act and the council can prosecute regardless of who owns the tree.

Where the volume of timber is large enough, a felling licence under the Forestry Act 1967 is a further requirement, and the licence applicant has to have the legal right to fell. That is a point at which the ownership question becomes unavoidable, and our note on woodland orders and felling licences explains how the two regimes interact.

Where the dispute is civil rather than planning

Councils will not adjudicate a neighbour dispute about a tree, and asking them to do so wastes everyone's time. Their interest is the tree's contribution to amenity and whether the proposed works harm it.

The civil routes, in rough order of cost, are a written agreement between the parties, mediation, a surveyor's report on the alleged damage, and litigation. Where the complaint is about a dense evergreen hedge rather than a tree, the high hedges provisions in Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 give a statutory complaints route to the council for hedges over two metres, which is a different process from tree consent and often the right one.

Where the complaint is about subsidence or drain damage, the evidence burden is higher than people expect. You need to show the tree caused the damage, which normally means soil analysis, root identification and a level monitoring record, and insurers usually run that process.

Practical steps before applying

Illustrative example: a homeowner wants a neighbour's protected lime reduced because it shades a kitchen window. They obtain a short report from an arboriculturist specifying a 2 metre reduction on the western aspect, write to the neighbour with the report and an offer to pay, get written agreement, then apply to the council with the neighbour named as owner. The council grants consent with a condition on timing. Details here are illustrative.

That sequence works because each step removes an objection. In order:

Get a competent arboricultural opinion on what work the tree can take, because a council will refuse works that damage a protected tree regardless of who asks. A tree survey or a short arboricultural report is the document that carries the argument, and PlanScope's draft is a starting point for a qualified arboriculturist rather than a substitute for one.

Then write to the owner. Then apply, naming them. Then, if consent is granted, get written agreement on access, contractor and dates before anyone climbs anything.

And if the owner refuses throughout, accept that the tree stays. The only remaining lawful option is cutting overhanging growth back to the boundary, with consent where the tree is protected, from your own side of the fence.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports works affecting trees at your address are likely to need. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.