My Neighbour's Tree Overhangs My Property. What Can I Do?

This is the most common tree question we get asked that has nothing to do with hiring anyone. The short version: in New Zealand you generally may cut branches back to your boundary at your own cost — and that is a much narrower right than most people assume. Most of these jobs end up as boundary tree pruning, not removal.

Can I cut my neighbour's tree branches overhanging my property in NZ?

Yes, generally, back to the boundary line, at your own cost, working from your side, and without harming the tree. The cuttings still belong to the neighbour. Before you cut, check whether the tree is protected: a protected tree stays protected even where it hangs over your fence, and a scheduled notable tree can only be trimmed within the Unitary Plan's limits without consent.

Under long-standing common law, a landowner may remove the parts of a neighbour's tree that encroach over the boundary — branches above and roots below. This is sometimes called the right of abatement.

Four conditions attach to it, and all four matter:

1. Only to the boundary line. You may cut what overhangs your land. You may not reach across and take more, and you may not cut into the tree beyond the boundary.
2. No trespass. You cannot enter their property to do the work without permission, and neither can a contractor you hire. If the job cannot be done from your side, you need their agreement.
3. No damage to the tree's health. Removing so much that you kill or destabilise the tree exposes you to a claim. “It was on my side” is not a defence if the tree dies.
4. Check protection first. This overrides everything above. For a scheduled notable tree, the Auckland Unitary Plan (rule D13.6.1) permits trimming without consent only if no branch over 50 mm across is cut, no more than 10% of the live growth comes off in a calendar year, the work meets good arboricultural practice and the tree keeps its natural shape. Anything beyond that needs resource consent; removal always does. Check Auckland Council GeoMaps first — see our consent guide, and for what a lawful trim looks like, trimming within the notable-tree limits.

If the overhang is large or sits over your roof, a contractor can make the boundary cut from your side for you, under the same four conditions and only to the boundary line. That kind of job is usually priced as trimming the overhanging branches, not as a removal.

What if it's a council tree overhanging my property?

Don't cut it. Trees in parks, reserves and on the berm are Auckland Council's, and private work on them is not allowed. If a council tree is overhanging, dropping branches or causing damage, log a maintenance request with the council, which inspects the tree and does the work it decides is needed. Call 111 if a tree is an immediate threat to life or property.

Know the limits before you report. The council's own policy says it does not prune public trees to reduce leaf, flower, fruit or twig debris, to create or keep views, or for sunlight or shade. It does prune for things like obstructed power lines, footpaths, roads and street lights, and it removes trees that are dead, dying, diseased or dangerous. Use the public tree maintenance request page, or phone 09 301 0101.

Who pays

If you choose to exercise the right to trim, you do. The tree owner is not obliged to contribute simply because their branches cross the line, and there is no general obligation on them to keep a tree within their boundary.

That changes where the tree is causing actual damage or presents a genuine hazard the owner has been made aware of. Then their responsibility — and their insurer's — becomes relevant.

In practice, most of these jobs end up as shared arrangements, because the work usually benefits both parties and doing it properly from both sides costs less than doing it badly from one. We are happy to quote work that both neighbours can see and agree on, which removes a lot of the friction.

Leaves, fruit, shade, light and views

You cannot make a neighbour cut a tree just because it drops leaves or casts shade, but the Property Law Act 2007 does give the District Court power to order a tree trimmed or removed where the interference is undue. The grounds in section 335 include risk to life, health or property, undue obstruction of a view from residential land, undue interference from falling leaves, flowers, fruit or branches, shade or loss of light, and blocked drains or gutters.

The bar is high. The order has to be fair and reasonable, and refusing it must cause you more hardship than the order would cause the tree's owner. The court must also weigh the tree's public amenity, its history and cultural significance, and the effect on ground stability, and whether the problem already existed when you bought.

The pattern: everyday nuisance rarely justifies a court order, but undue interference, damage and danger can. Protection rules still apply on top: a court order does not replace the need for resource consent on a protected tree.

If the tree causes damage

Where a neighbour's tree damages your property — roots lifting your driveway, a limb breaking your fence, a tree falling on your shed — the question is generally negligence, not ownership.

A claim is more likely to succeed where the owner knew or reasonably should have known there was a problem and failed to act. It is much weaker where a healthy tree failed in an exceptional storm, which is usually treated as an act of nature with each party claiming on their own insurance.

Which is why this next point does more work than anything else on this page:

On roots specifically: read tree roots, drains and foundations before assuming the tree is responsible. Roots almost never break a sound pipe, and blaming a neighbour's tree for a fault in your own drainage is both wrong and expensive.

If the tree is dangerous and they will not act

You have escalating options, and it is worth working through them in order.

1. Raise it directly, in writing. Explain the specific concern — the dead limb, the lean, the lifting soil — rather than a general dislike of the tree. Photographs help.
2. Get an arborist assessment. An independent written opinion that a tree presents a hazard is far more persuasive than your opinion, and it is evidence if this goes further. See the nine warning signs.
3. Offer to share the cost. Unsatisfying, but frequently the fastest and cheapest resolution — and cheaper than the alternatives below.
4. Disputes Tribunal. For smaller claims, the Disputes Tribunal is quick, informal and inexpensive, with no lawyers involved. See how to make a claim.
5. District Court under the Property Law Act 2007. Sections 333 to 337 of the Property Law Act 2007 allow the court to order the removal or trimming of a tree where that is fair and reasonable and needed to deal with a risk to people or property, or one of the undue interferences listed above. Refusing the order must cause the applicant more hardship than making it would cause the owner, and the court can attach conditions. By default the applicant pays for the work, unless the court decides the owner's conduct means they should pay some or all of it.

Note that a Property Law Act order does not override tree protection. If the tree is scheduled, resource consent is still required.

Trees actually on the boundary

Ownership follows the trunk, not the canopy or the roots.

• Trunk entirely on one property → that owner owns the tree, carries the cost and the responsibility.
• Trunk straddling the boundary → generally treated as jointly owned, and neither party should remove or substantially work on it without the other's agreement.
• Removing a jointly owned tree unilaterally exposes you to a claim for the other party's share of its value.

Boundary trees are common in older suburbs with hedge planting along fence lines — Glenfield, Pakuranga and Botany in particular. If ownership genuinely is unclear, a surveyor settles it and costs far less than a dispute.

Boundary hedges

A hedge planted along the boundary is treated a little differently from a single tree. The Fencing Act 1978 counts a live fence that serves as a dividing fence as a fence, and its definition of repair includes trimming and maintaining a live fence, so the upkeep of a true boundary hedge can be shared under that Act's neighbour process. The Property Law Act also applies to “any tree, shrub, or plant”, so a hedge that unduly blocks light or a view from residential land can be the subject of a court order to trim it. In practice, most of these end with an agreed boundary hedge trimming job split between both households.

How to approach it without starting a war

Practical, and it works more often than the legal routes:

• Go and talk first. A surprising number of tree owners have not noticed the problem and are perfectly willing to deal with it.
• Lead with the specific issue, not the tree. “There is a dead limb over the driveway” lands much better than “your tree is a nuisance”.
• Bring a solution. Turning up with a quote for shared work is a very different conversation from turning up with a complaint.
• Offer to pay a share, even where you might not have to. Neighbour relationships outlast trees.
• Then write it down. Even after a friendly chat, a short confirming email protects you both.
• Do not cut first and discuss later. It is the fastest way to turn a manageable issue into a Disputes Tribunal claim.

We are happy to quote boundary work in a form both neighbours can see, and to talk to the other party where that helps. Request a quote, or check whether the tree is protected first.

General information about how these situations usually work in New Zealand, not legal advice. For advice on your specific position, consult a lawyer or Community Law. See our disclaimer.

Frequently asked questions