Free tool · Neighbourhood Disputes Act 2011
Neighbouring Tree Disputes | QCAT Guide
How a Queensland neighbour tree dispute works, from the first conversation to QCAT. Check whether QCAT can hear it, tick off the evidence as you go, and keep a dated record of what happened in the timeline spreadsheet.
Check QCAT can hear it
Answer all three. Open a question for what it means.
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Is the trunk on your neighbour’s land, next to yours?
- The base of the trunk is wholly or mainly on the neighbouring lot
- The two lots adjoin, or would if a road didn’t separate them
- Not a council park, rural land or a lot over 4 hectares
QCAT can’t hear this one under the Act. For a tree on council land, ask council: your council’s page shows how. For rural land or a lot over 4 hectares, talk to your neighbour, try free mediation through Dispute Resolution Centres on 1800 017 288, or get legal advice.
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Is the tree causing harm the Act recognises, now or within 12 months?
- Branches overhanging your land count
- So does serious injury, serious damage, or substantial, ongoing and unreasonable interference, happening now or likely within 12 months
- Leaf litter alone rarely counts; sunlight and views only if the tree is over 2.5 m and the loss is severe
Not yet, then. QCAT can only act on harm that is happening or likely within 12 months. Document it now, with dated photos and notes, so you have a record if it gets worse, and consider booking a consultation so we can look at the tree and advise you further.
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Do you know whether council protects the tree?
- QCAT must consider whether work needs a consent under another law
- The Act doesn’t let you prune a protected tree yourself
Check before anyone cuts anything: our free permit checker covers seven South East Queensland councils.
Document the tree and the damage
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Wide photos placing the tree and the boundary
- From your yard and the street, with the tree, fence and house in frame
- Keep the original files: they carry the date they were taken
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Overhanging branches, measured
- A tape or marked pole in shot
- How far over the boundary, and how high: the 50 cm and 2.5 m marks decide which process applies
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Every item of damage, wide then close
- A scale in shot, and a note of when you first noticed it
- Photograph it before any repair, and retake every few months to show change
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Evidence the tree caused it
- Being close to the tree isn’t proof
- Roots traced to the tree, or a plumber’s or engineer’s report naming it
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Written repair quotes, and receipts for anything already fixed
- Itemised: compensation has to be proved in dollars
Notify your neighbour and try to resolve it
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Talk to them, then put a reasonable offer in writing
- QCAT has to be satisfied you made a reasonable effort to agree
- Note each conversation the same day: date, what was said and agreed
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Try free mediation
- Dispute Resolution Centres: 1800 017 288
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Give an overhanging branch notice, if it applies
- Branches at least 50 cm over the boundary and no more than 2.5 m up
- The notice (Form 3), at least 30 days to act, a written quote attached, and proof of how it was given
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Use the council route where there is one
- Keep enquiries, permit applications and decisions
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Keep every letter, email and text, in date order
- Screenshots showing the date and sender
- Add each one to the timeline spreadsheet
Still can’t agree? That’s when QCAT can step in.
See how the QCAT process worksDo you need your own arborist report? Usually not to start: QCAT generally appoints its own tree assessor. One is worth having before you apply, for anything the assessor cannot see, or to prove the cost of damage. See expert witness reports or the neighbour tree disputes guide.
Built from the Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011, QCAT Practice Direction 7 of 2013 and QCAT’s Form 51 and tree dispute guidance. General information, not legal advice: QCAT registry staff cannot give legal advice, but Caxton Legal Centre and community legal centres can.
Start to finish
How a QCAT tree dispute works
What happens from the first conversation with your neighbour to QCAT’s orders. Many disputes end well before a hearing.
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Try to sort it out first
- Talk, put an offer in writing and try free mediation (Dispute Resolution Centres, 1800 017 288)
- QCAT has to be satisfied you made a reasonable effort
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Prepare your application
- Complete QCAT’s Form 51 and its checklist, and pay the fee
- Name your neighbours exactly as on the property title, or the orders may not be enforceable
- Draw a labelled diagram of the trees and both properties, and attach your evidence
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Lodge it with QCAT
- Email, post or hand it in (QCAT in Brisbane or any Magistrates Court), with three copies
- It isn’t filed until QCAT stamps it and sends the sealed copies back
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Give it to your neighbour
- Sealed copies to the tree-keeper and anyone else named, within 7 days
- Prove it with an affidavit of service (Form 9), witnessed by a Justice of the Peace
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Your neighbour responds
- They have 28 days, then QCAT issues directions with due dates
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QCAT’s tree assessor inspects
- QCAT usually appoints its own arborist, the cost shared up to $1,200 in total
- Both sides get the report and a proposed agreement: sign within 21 days and it ends there
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Hearing and orders
- If it doesn’t settle: a directions hearing, possibly mediation, then a final hearing. You generally represent yourself
- Orders go on QCAT’s tree orders register and bind whoever owns the land
Ready to apply?
QCAT doesn’t take tree disputes online: you complete Form 51 and lodge it by email, post or in person. QCAT’s application page has the form, its checklist and how to lodge.
QCAT Tree Dispute Questions
What evidence do I need for a QCAT tree dispute?
Enough to show your land is affected in a way the Neighbourhood Disputes Act recognises, and that you tried to resolve it first. In practice that means dated photographs of the tree, the boundary and any damage; written repair quotes; your correspondence with the neighbour and the council; a record of how any notice was given; and a timeline tying it together. Where the problem cannot be seen, such as roots in a drain, you need a plumber’s, engineer’s or arborist’s evidence, because QCAT’s assessor only inspects visually.
Do I need my own arborist report for QCAT?
Not usually to get started. Once an application passes its initial checks, QCAT generally appoints its own tree assessor, with the parties sharing the cost up to $1,200 in total, and after that report no party can bring expert evidence on the same issues without the tribunal’s leave. Your own report is worth having before you apply, to find out whether you have a case; for anything the assessor cannot see, such as roots under a slab; to prove the cost of damage; and if you are the tree-keeper arguing that pruning would resolve it.
How much does a QCAT tree dispute cost?
There is the application fee, which QCAT publishes on its website; a share of the tree assessor’s cost, which the tribunal starts from splitting equally and caps at $1,200 in total; and your own costs — reports, quotes and time for the hearing. Final orders can shift the assessor’s cost between the parties. QCAT generally expects people to represent themselves rather than bring a lawyer.
Can QCAT order my neighbour to remove a tree?
Yes, where the Act’s tests are met, but removal is the last resort. Safety is the primary consideration, and a living tree should not be removed unless the issue cannot otherwise be satisfactorily resolved — so expect the tribunal to look first at pruning, root work or a barrier. In a genuine dispute QCAT can order work even where a council local law or vegetation protection order would otherwise prevent it, though not work another Act prohibits.
Does blocked sunlight or a lost view count?
Only in narrow circumstances. The tree must rise at least 2.5 m above the ground, and the obstruction must be severe — of sunlight to a window or roof of a dwelling on your land, or of a view from your dwelling that existed when you took possession of the land. Photographs from when you bought, often the sale listing, are the strongest evidence of what the view used to be.
What if the tree has already been removed?
You can still apply for compensation for damage it caused, because the Act treats a removed tree as still being on the land for the application. The exception is where the tree-keeper has sold that land since the damage happened. Photograph the damage, keep the repair quotes, and record when the tree came down.
What happens after I apply?
You give stamped copies to the tree-keeper and everyone else entitled to one within 7 days, and file proof that you did. The tree-keeper has 28 days to respond. If the application meets the Act’s requirements, QCAT will usually appoint a tree assessor once the parties have paid their share of the cost, then send both sides the report with a proposed agreement. Sign it within 21 days and the matter ends there; otherwise it is listed for a directions hearing and heads towards a final hearing.
Heading to QCAT?
Send the application — yours, or the one you have been served — with your photos. You will get a straight answer on whether an independent report would help, and when it would not.