Who decides
In NSW, trees on private land are protected by the State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity and Conservation) 2021, but the policy leaves the detail to councils. Each council’s development control plan (DCP) says which trees are protected in its area, whether by height, trunk size, canopy spread, species, location or zone. That’s why the answer changes when you cross a council boundary, sometimes in the middle of a suburb.
The state policy is blunt: “A person must not clear vegetation … without the authority conferred by a permit granted by the council.” And “clear” includes cutting down, poisoning, ringbarking, and lopping or removing “a substantial part” of a tree.
The five things that decide it
1. Size. Most councils protect a tree once it passes a height, trunk or canopy threshold. Across the 32 councils we cover, the height triggers range from 3 m (Bayside, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Georges River, Hornsby, Waverley, Wollondilly) through 4 m (Burwood, Cumberland, Inner West, Ryde, Willoughby and others) and 5 m (Canterbury-Bankstown, City of Sydney, Ku-ring-gai, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Randwick, Woollahra and others) to 6 m in The Hills. Some go lower in heritage areas: 2 m in Mosman’s, 3 m in Parramatta’s. Sutherland Shire is the odd one out: it goes by trunk diameter, 100 mm measured 500 mm above the ground, with no height test at all.
2. Species. Almost every council publishes an exempt species list. The usual suspects are cocos palm, camphor laurel, privet, liquidambar, coral tree, umbrella tree, African olive, most fruit trees and declared weeds, but the lists differ a lot. See which trees are exempt in each council.
3. Distance from the house. Some councils exempt trees very close to a dwelling: 5 m in The Hills; 3 m in Canterbury-Bankstown, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Penrith, Ryde and Wollondilly; 2 m in Cumberland and Northern Beaches; 1 m in Inner West. The details matter: it’s usually measured from the external wall to the centre of the trunk, and most don’t count garages, sheds, decks or granny flats (The Hills does count ancillary structures). Strathfield says outright there is no such exemption.
4. Where the tree is. Bushland vegetation, trees near creeks and foreshores, and trees in mapped biodiversity areas are often protected at any size. In the Sutherland Shire, anything within 4 m of a creek is protected.
5. Heritage. If the property is a heritage item or in a heritage conservation area, exemptions usually fall away, and removing a tree often needs a development application rather than a simple permit.
The quick check
- Find your council. Your rates notice tells you. Our suburb pages show it too, including suburbs split between two councils.
- Is it a street or park tree? Then it’s the council’s. Don’t touch it.
- Is the property heritage-listed? Check your council’s online map. If yes, call the council before anything else.
- Is the tree on the exempt list? If yes, and it isn’t heritage, you usually don’t need approval.
- Is it over the size threshold? Measure the height, and the trunk at the height your council specifies.
- Is it within the council’s exempt distance from the house, if it has one?
- Still protected? Apply for a permit. Allow for a council fee of roughly $57 to $224 for a standard application in 2026/27 (paid to the council, not to us; some add a charge per extra tree), and a decision anywhere from four weeks to several months: Georges River allows itself up to 18 weeks.
Each council’s page turns its own rules into an interactive checker that walks through these questions.
Two exemptions everyone gets wrong
“It’s dead, so I can remove it.” The state policy exempts dead or dying trees only where the council is satisfied the tree is dead and not needed as habitat. Many councils want you to apply, or at least keep an arborist’s evidence and photographs. See dead or dangerous trees.
“The 10/50 rule lets me clear anything near my house.” Only if the NSW RFS online tool confirms your address is in a 10/50 entitlement area, and only within the Code’s conditions. See the 10/50 rule explained.
What happens if you get it wrong
Removing a protected tree without approval can bring an on-the-spot fine of $3,000 for an individual ($6,000 for a company), and court penalties up to $1 million. Many councils also demand replacement trees at two to four for one. See penalties for illegal tree removal.