Storm-damaged tree: who's responsible and what to do

If a tree has come down or a large limb has failed, deal with safety first and liability second. Call 999 if anyone is hurt or a road or footpath is blocked. If anything is near power lines, treat the cables as live, keep well clear and call 105. Then photograph everything before it is moved, and tell your buildings insurer before you start clearing. On the question everyone asks, the general position in England is that where a healthy, properly maintained tree comes down in a storm, the damage is usually a matter for the affected party's own insurer rather than something recoverable from the tree's owner. Liability enters the picture only where the owner knew, or should have known, that the tree was unsafe and did nothing.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.

In the first hour

• Anyone injured, or a road or path blocked: call 999. National Grid's power cut advice says that if a road or path is blocked it is an emergency and the police will respond immediately.
• Power lines: call 105 and stay well back. 105 is the free national number connecting you to your local electricity network operator, from a landline or a mobile, at any hour. Always assume a fallen overhead line is live. Never handle anything that may be touching overhead lines, and never try to pull a branch off a cable. Electricity at high voltages can jump gaps with no warning.
• Do not approach hung-up limbs. A limb that has torn out and lodged in the crown is the most dangerous thing on the site. It can drop with no wind at all. Rope it off, keep children and pets indoors, and treat the whole drop zone as out of bounds.
• Do not climb anything, and do not start a chainsaw. Storm-damaged wood is under tension and compression in ways that are not obvious from the ground, and releases suddenly when cut.
• Gas smell, sparking or fire: 999 first.

Who owns what

A tree belongs to whoever owns the land its trunk grows out of, and the owner carries the duty of care that goes with it. The Arboricultural Association's guide to trees and the law puts that duty in the classic terms: take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Under the Occupiers' Liability Acts, an owner must take reasonable steps to keep visitors, and to a degree trespassers, safe on their land.

That duty does not make the owner an insurer of the tree. Liability turns on negligence. If the tree was visibly unsafe through damage or disease and the owner did nothing, they may be responsible for what followed. If the tree was in good condition and the wind was exceptional, the usual outcome is that no one was at fault and the person whose property was damaged claims on their own policy.

That is what the phrase "act of God" is gesturing at, and it is not a magic defence. Where a storm was forecast, or the tree was obviously diseased, decayed or leaning, an owner will struggle to argue the event was unforeseeable. An owner told their ash was infected and standing over a footpath is in a very different position from one whose sound oak lost a limb in a gale. See ash dieback.

Why evidence of prior inspection matters

The practical defence for a tree owner is a record: not a survey every year, but evidence that you looked at your trees, knew roughly what condition they were in, and acted on what you found. Dated photographs, a note of when you last walked round, an invoice for deadwood removal two winters ago and any consultant's report are all worth keeping. They turn "I had no idea" into "I took reasonable care". The same evidence works in reverse. If your neighbour's tree has hit your house and you had written to them about it, that correspondence is the thing your insurer will want, so save it before anything gets cleared.

What to photograph before anything moves

Once the site is safe and before the chainsaws start:

• The whole scene from several angles, wide enough to show the tree, the damage and how they relate
• The base and root plate, including lifted turf, torn roots or soil cracking
• The failure point close up. Decay, a hollow, a torn-out fork or discoloured wood at the break is the single most useful photograph there is
• The damage to the building, fence, car or drive, with something for scale
• Anything in contact with cables, pipes or a boundary

Keep the memory card. If wood is being removed, ask the crew to set aside a section through the failure point until the insurer has seen the pictures. What to photograph for a tree quote covers the same ground for ordinary jobs.

Tell your insurer before you clear

Storm damage is covered by most standard home insurance policies. The Association of British Insurers advises contacting your insurer as soon as is reasonably possible, and notes that most have 24-hour emergency helplines. Where emergency repairs are needed to prevent further damage, the ABI advice is to tell the insurer, take photos or video, and keep an itemised invoice, as it will form part of the claim (ABI storm FAQs).

Two things to know. Fences and gates are excluded by most standard buildings policies, which is why a flattened fence panel is usually your own cost. And insurance is not a maintenance contract: policies generally require the property to be kept in good condition, the same principle that makes an unmaintained tree a problem. If someone is holding you responsible for damage, the ABI's advice is to contact your own buildings insurer rather than admitting liability.

Neighbours and highways

A neighbour's tree on your property. Make it safe, photograph it, tell your insurer and tell the neighbour in writing. The wood remains the tree owner's property, and the polite position is to offer it back. If you believe the tree was obviously defective, say so in writing and let the insurers argue it out. Do not cut anything on their land without consent, which is covered in cutting a neighbour's overhanging branches and who owns a boundary hedge.

A tree over a road or pavement. The highway authority can serve notice under section 154 of the Highways Act 1980 requiring an owner to lop or fell a hedge, tree or shrub that overhangs a highway and endangers or obstructs passage, giving 14 days to act. If the owner does not comply, the authority can do the work and recover the cost as a debt. In an emergency the council or the police clear the carriageway first and deal with the paperwork afterwards.

A council tree that has failed onto you. Report it, keep your photographs, and claim through your own insurer first. Councils defend these claims on their inspection regime, which is the same evidence question in reverse.

Emergency work versus planned work

Emergency tree work is a different job from a booked one. The crew arrives without knowing what they will find, often out of hours and in poor light, and has to make safe before it can tidy. That is why it is priced on site: the work is dictated by how the tree has failed, what it is resting on and what has to be protected while it comes down. Expect a contractor to separate the two stages. Making safe is the urgent part. The rest, including taking the remaining stem down, grinding the stump and clearing the waste, can usually wait a few days and be quoted against our price card, waste included:

Anything over £1,200, over 15m, over a road, near cables or touching a building goes to a free survey. There is a £150 job minimum, and green waste collections are exempt from it.

Protected trees, even after a storm

Storm damage does not suspend a Tree Preservation Order or conservation area protection, but there are exceptions built in. Government guidance allows work on a tree presenting an immediate risk of serious harm without prior consent, provided the owner notifies the council as soon as practicable after the work becomes necessary, and is explicit that if the danger is not immediate the tree does not come within the exception. Dead trees need five working days' prior written notice, and a replacement tree is usually required afterwards.

Do only what the danger requires, photograph the defect that justified it, and notify the council straight away. Taking the whole tree because it was easier while the crew was there is where people get into trouble. See do I need permission to cut down a tree, how to check if a tree has a TPO and trees in conservation areas.

Getting it dealt with

We are an introducer: we pass your enquiry to one vetted local tree surgeon who covers your area. Start with tree removal or tree felling and the tree removal cost guide, and stump grinding for what is left. If the damage is spread across the garden, garden clearance and green waste removal cover the rest.