Tree Owners' Legal Responsibilities & Duty of Care
If you own land with trees on it, you have a legal duty of care to ensure those trees do not pose an unacceptable risk to people or property. This obligation applies to all landowners — homeowners, housing associations, local authorities, commercial property owners, schools, and estates — regardless of the size or number of trees involved.
Understanding your legal position and taking proportionate, documented steps to manage tree risk is the most effective way to meet your duty and protect yourself in the event of an incident.
The Legal Framework
The duty of care for tree owners in England and Wales arises primarily from the Occupiers' Liability Acts of 1957 and 1984, which require occupiers of land to take reasonable steps to ensure that their premises are reasonably safe for visitors and, in certain circumstances, trespassers. The duty applies not just to the land itself but to everything on it — including trees.
The key principle established by the courts is one of reasonable foreseeability — a landowner is liable for injury or damage caused by a tree failure if it was reasonably foreseeable that the tree posed a risk and the landowner failed to take reasonable steps to identify and manage that risk. Where a landowner has carried out regular, professionally documented tree inspections and acted on the recommendations made, their legal position is significantly stronger than a landowner who has done nothing.
What Reasonable Steps Look Like
The courts and the Health and Safety Executive both look for evidence that a landowner has taken a systematic, proportionate approach to tree risk management. This means carrying out regular inspections by a suitably qualified person, keeping written records of those inspections and their findings, acting on management recommendations within a reasonable timeframe, and reviewing and updating the inspection programme as trees change and develop over time.
The appropriate frequency of inspection depends on the risk profile of the tree population — trees in high-target areas such as school grounds, public parks, housing estate paths, and car parks require more frequent inspection than trees in low-target rural locations. A qualified arboricultural consultant will advise on the appropriate inspection cycle for your specific site and tree population.
Who Has a Duty of Care
Every landowner has a duty of care for trees on land they own or manage. This includes private homeowners with trees in their garden, housing associations and registered providers managing communal estate trees, local authorities responsible for street trees, park trees, and housing estate trees, commercial property owners and facilities managers, schools, colleges, and universities, golf clubs, sports grounds, and leisure facilities, and private estates and landowners. The duty extends to trees on boundary features — including boundary hedges and trees that overhang a neighbouring property or public highway.
Tree Preservation Orders & Conservation Areas
Where a tree is subject to a Tree Preservation Order or is located in a conservation area, additional legal obligations apply under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Carrying out works to a TPO-protected tree without the written consent of the local planning authority — or failing to give six weeks notice for works to trees in a conservation area — is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine.
The duty of care obligation to manage risk does not override the requirement to obtain consent, but it does provide a justification for emergency works where there is an immediate risk of serious harm. Urban Tree Management advises landowners on TPO obligations and submits TPO applications on their behalf — see our protected trees advice page for further information.
What Happens on an Exempt Site
It is important to note that being exempt from the mandatory BNG requirement does not mean a development has no biodiversity obligations. Planning Policy Wales and the National Planning Policy Framework still require all development — including exempt development — to avoid harm to biodiversity where possible, and planning applications will be refused where a significant harm to biodiversity cannot be avoided, mitigated, or compensated for even on an exempt site. Where trees and hedgerows are present on an exempt development site, the need for a BS5837 tree survey and arboricultural assessment remains regardless of the BNG exemption status.
Documenting Your Duty of Care
The most important protection available to a landowner in the event of a tree-related incident is a clear, professionally produced, written record of inspection, assessment, and action. A well-documented tree inspection programme — carried out by a qualified arboricultural consultant, recording the condition and risk rating of every tree inspected, and demonstrating that recommended works have been carried out within reasonable timescales — provides defensible evidence that your duty of care is being actively and proportionately managed.
Urban Tree Management provides tree inspection and risk assessment reports in a format that builds this audit trail systematically over time — allowing landowners, housing associations, local authorities, and commercial property managers to demonstrate compliance with their duty of care at any point. For full details of our tree inspection and risk assessment service, and our QTRA-based risk management programmes for larger tree populations, see our dedicated service pages.
Tree Risk Assessments & Duty of Care Advice — Greater Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire
Urban Tree Management provides tree inspections, risk assessments, and cyclical inspection programmes for landowners of all types across the North West — delivering the professionally documented evidence you need to demonstrate that your duty of care is being actively and proportionately managed.
Get in contact with our highly experienced and personable team of arboriculturists today, to discuss your requirements and to obtain your zero obligation quotation.