Neighbour’s Tree Damaged Your Property? Letter of Demand Guide

The gum tree next door has been dropping limbs for years. You asked them twice to get it looked at. Last month a branch the size of a car came through your carport roof. $4,800 in damage. Your neighbour’s response: “Not my fault, it was the wind.”

Here is the thing: wind is not a defence when you were warned.

The law: nuisance and negligence

A tree owner is not automatically liable for everything their tree does. But they are liable when they knew, or should have known, the tree was a risk and did nothing. That is negligence and private nuisance at common law. Evidence that helps:

• You told them about the risk (texts, emails, letters)
• The tree had visible dead limbs, fungus or a lean
• It had dropped branches before
• An arborist had flagged it

Roots are similar. If the roots of their tree have cracked your driveway, blocked your sewer or lifted your slab, that is a continuing nuisance, and they must both fix it and stop it.

Some states have a dedicated tree law

1. New South Wales: the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006. The Land and Environment Court can order the owner to remove or prune the tree and pay compensation for damage. You must first make a reasonable effort to resolve it with the neighbour, so your letter is a required step.
2. Queensland: the Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011. QCAT can order pruning, removal and compensation.
3. Tasmania: the Neighbourhood Disputes About Plants Act 2017.
4. Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory: no dedicated Act. You rely on nuisance and negligence in the Magistrates Court or tribunal, and on council tree rules.

What you can claim

• Repair costs (two quotes)
• Clean-up and removal of the fallen limb
• Insurance excess if you claimed on your own policy
• An order that the tree be pruned or removed to stop it happening again

Insurance first, then the neighbour

Lodge a claim with your home insurer if you have one. Your insurer may recover from the neighbour. If you have no cover, or the excess is high, you go direct. Either way, get an arborist report ($300 to $500). It will say whether the tree was defective and whether a reasonable owner should have acted. That report is often the key evidence.

The Letter of Demand

Set out the history of warnings, the incident, the damage and quotes, the arborist’s findings, the legal basis (nuisance, negligence, and the state Act if you have one), and demand payment within 14 days plus an undertaking to have the tree assessed and made safe. Warn that you will file at the tribunal or court.

Neighbours do not want a court order with their address on it. Do not wait for the next branch.

Keep it civil, keep it written

You still have to live next to these people. A formal letter is actually the calmest option: no shouting over the fence, no ambush, just the facts and a deadline. If you are in New South Wales or Queensland, a written attempt to resolve is a legal requirement before the court or tribunal will hear you, so the letter is not optional anyway. Send it, keep a copy, and let the process do the arguing.

Claim Done drafts your Letter of Demand for $49. Done in about 5 minutes. You approve it before it is sent.