04 Mar How do you know if a tree is dangerous?
If a tree is dangerous and it is on your ground, then you are responsible for it. If you have one or more trees in your garden, every time there’s a storm you’ll naturally want to check if they’ve been damaged and become a danger to nearby buildings, structures or people.
Every year, trees are damaged or felled by storms and if its base is inside your property boundary you’re legally responsible for it. If the base is on the boundary between your property and that of a neighbour, you jointly own it, are jointly responsible for it and have to make any decisions and pay for work together.
Do I have to check my tree?
UK law says if you own a tree and fail to inspect it you’ll be considered negligent if something happens. Also, if it’s obvious to a layman there’s something wrong with your tree and you fail to do anything about it, the law says you’ve been negligent. So it’s important to check your trees after there have been high winds.
You can do the initial inspection yourself. The National Tree Safety Group’s ‘Common sense risk assessment of trees’ guide has lots of useful information to help. However, if your trees are in high-risk areas (e.g. overhanging a public footpath) or you have urgent worries about the safety of a tree, it’s best to call out a professional arborist immediately. Taking prompt action could help limit any damages you might have to pay if it falls and damages someone else’s property before they arrive.
Warning signs your tree is dangerous
There are many reasons why trees fall down, not just as a result of storm winds. These include poor planting conditions, advanced insect infestation, malnutrition, poor soil conditions, flooding, damage from nearby construction and old age.
Here are warning signs to look out for that your tree may fall:
1. Is the tree leaning more than before? And is the lean in the opposite direction to the source of winds – i.e. more prone to new gales?
2. Dead branches which fall with minimal disturbance – dead branches doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to fall over, but they tell you it’s in poor condition because shedding branches is a tree’s way of self-pruning to make itself smaller, which usually means it’s not getting enough nourishment. It could also mean it’s being attacked by burrowing insects and weakened to a point where it may fall. Check also if dead branches are just on one side or on the lower part of the tree – not good signs.
3. There’s a hole in the trunk – one of the side-effects of a tree self-pruning is a cavity forming inside its trunk. An open wound from a broken branch could lead to decay inside the tree. If the cavity is isolated and there’s enough solid wood around it, then your tree’s probably not going to tip over. But in this situation it’s best to have a professional look at it.
4. Deep cracks or missing bark on the tree trunk – patches of missing bark on the trunk, known as cankers, are a sign your tree is dying. Deep cracks in the trunk are also of major concern as these make the trunk much weaker and more likely to become a danger. Both cankers and cracks need urgent assessment by a professional arborist.
5. The tree has tight V-shaped branch growth – branches that grow too close together are often in a V-shape. The best time to spot V-shaped branch growth on deciduous trees is during late Autumn or during the Winter when the leaves of deciduous trees have fallen off.
6. Check the tree’s leaf cover – Does the tree have a thin leaf cover? Are there sections of the tree where there are no leaves? Are the leaves dropping much earlier than from other trees of the same species nearby? Do the fallen leaves look unusual?
7. The tree roots are weak and rotten – this is obviously harder to spot, but is a reliable way to tell if the tree is rotting inside. Check for mushrooms and other fungi growing around the base of the tree or on the trunk. And cracked or raised soil – a sign of uprooting. A professional arborist can advise on the best course of action.
How to tell if your tree is dead
Because deciduous trees look dead in Winter without their foliage, you need to properly check the health of a tree using the following three-step method:
1. Do The Scratch Test on shoots – scratch the bark on the shoots with your thumbnail or a small knife. A stem with green under the bark is alive. If it’s brown underneath, it’s dead. Living shoots will also have smooth, firm bark, while dead or dying shoots have flaking, peeling or wizened bark.
2. Do The Scratch Test on branches – if the shoots are dead at the tips, do the test on branches to check if they’re also dead. If most or all of the upper parts of a tree are brown under the bark, the plant is very likely to be dead.
3. Do The Final Test – to be sure, you can also to scrape the bark of the main stem just below the soil line or on the roots. If this appears dark in colour, especially with any sign of soft, rotting roots, then you can be confident your tree is dead.
Trees which still show some signs of life (e.g. green under the bark or firm roots) can be left for a few months or until Spring to see if they improve. If they continue to get worse, or fail to return to growth in Spring, you can reasonably conclude it’s dead.
Your tree and the Law
Insurance – it’s important to check the terms and conditions of your home insurance policy to see what the insurer’s position is towards trees. Damage to homes (yours or your neighbour’s) caused by falling trees and branches is generally covered by home insurance policies as standard, but check the wording for any exclusions.
Liability for injuries – you as a tree owner have a general duty of care not to injure your neighbour, so you may be liable through negligence if:
• If the tree sheds a branch and injury or harm results
• The injury or harm was foreseeable
• The person injured or harmed was someone to whom you have a duty of care and the injury or harm was a breach of that duty
Trees overhanging roads – your local council or highways agency may serve a notice on you to make adequate clearance of hedges or trees encroaching onto adjacent roads. If you fail to have the work carried out, this can be done by the authority and the bill sent to you. Electricity suppliers using overhead cables have the right to keep public service cables clear but should serve notice before carrying out the work.
Legal checks before having your tree felled – before ordering an old tree to be felled check if it’s covered by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO). If it is, you need to gain permission from your local planning authority first. If it’s dangerous, the usual six weeks advance notice can be reduced to five days. An assessment by a professional tree surgeon will help get permission. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 you need to check for bat roosts and the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. If possible, avoid work when they’re nesting or draw them to the attention of the tree surgeon before work.
Get in touch
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