← Back Sellers · 6 min read

Tree Disputes When Selling a Home in Brisbane 2026

Trees on or near your boundary can complicate a sale. Here is what Brisbane sellers need to know about disclosure, liability, and resolving disputes before your campaign begins.

In Brisbane's older inner-east suburbs, mature trees are part of the character and appeal of the streetscape. They shade Queenslander verandahs, screen neighbouring properties, and add genuine visual value. They can also be the source of significant disputes that, if unresolved at the time of sale, become a problem the incoming buyer inherits and then traces back to you. Understanding where you stand before you list is sensible vendor preparation.

Queensland has a specific legal framework for tree disputes between neighbours, and Brisbane City Council has its own overlay controls for significant trees. These two systems interact in ways that are not always obvious, and sellers in suburbs like Coorparoo, Hawthorne, Norman Park, and Balmoral regularly encounter them when preparing to sell properties with mature plantings.

The Queensland neighbourhood disputes framework

The Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011 is the primary legislation governing tree disputes between neighbours in Queensland. Under this Act, a neighbour can apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) for an order requiring you, as the tree owner, to take action if your tree is causing or poses a serious risk of causing injury or damage to their property.

The Act distinguishes between trees that have caused damage and trees that pose a risk of future damage. The risk threshold matters: not every overhanging branch or root intrusion qualifies. The neighbour must generally demonstrate that the tree is causing, or is likely to cause, material damage or interference with their use and enjoyment of the property. Dropping leaves and minor root growth that has not caused structural damage do not typically meet this threshold, though every situation is assessed on its facts.

As a seller, the practical concern is not so much whether a dispute could be brought but whether one has been initiated or threatened, and what obligations you may carry as a result. If a neighbour has written to you formally requesting tree work, or if QCAT proceedings have been commenced, those are facts that may be relevant to your disclosure obligations.

What sellers are required to disclose

Queensland's property disclosure framework is based on the buyer beware principle, but sellers and agents are required to disclose known material facts that are not otherwise reasonably apparent to a competent buyer. An active QCAT proceeding relating to a boundary tree is almost certainly a material fact that should be disclosed. A formal written demand from a neighbour that you have not resolved is likely to be one as well.

Your conveyancer or solicitor will guide you on the specific disclosure requirements for your contract and property. The point to take from this is that leaving an active or unresolved tree dispute to be discovered by a buyer post-settlement carries real legal and reputational risk. It is significantly cleaner to address it, or at minimum document your position clearly, before you go to market.

Where there is no active dispute but a large tree clearly overhangs a boundary and has visible root impact on neighbouring infrastructure, a careful vendor will discuss the situation with their solicitor before listing. In some cases, proactively engaging with the neighbour to clarify the situation and obtain written confirmation that no dispute exists is worth doing. It removes ambiguity from the transaction and demonstrates good faith.

Significant trees and Brisbane City Council controls

Separate from the dispute framework, Brisbane City Council's planning scheme identifies significant trees that are subject to specific protections. These are trees listed in the council's significant tree register or trees that meet certain size and species criteria under the Vegetation Management provisions of the City Plan 2014.

If your property has a significant tree on it, you cannot simply remove it to resolve a dispute or improve presentation without council approval. Approval applications can take time and are not always granted. Removing a protected tree without approval carries substantial penalties and creates a disclosure problem if the work was done recently.

Buyers of properties with large trees will often commission a pre-purchase arborist report, particularly if the tree is old or large. If you know there is a health concern with a significant tree on your property, getting your own arborist assessment before listing gives you the information you need to price and position the property accurately, rather than waiting for a buyer's report to surface an issue you did not know about mid-campaign.

Trees, boundaries, and what buyers actually notice

In a practical selling context, the tree issues that most commonly cause problems during a campaign are not the dramatic ones but the subtle ones. A large fig tree whose roots have begun lifting a neighbouring driveway. A boundary tree that one owner believes is theirs and the other believes belongs to next door. A council-registered significant tree that the vendor assumed they could manage freely.

Buyers and their building and pest inspectors are increasingly attuned to tree-related risk. A root system pushing under a slab, evidence of previous root intrusion to drainage, or a tree so close to a structure that future maintenance will be expensive are all things buyers notice and price into their offers. Addressing these before your campaign, or at least understanding them clearly so you can discuss them honestly, prevents late-campaign surprises that can kill negotiations or force price renegotiation.

There is also a practical point about visual presentation. In Brisbane's inner east, buyers generally love a well-established garden with mature plantings. A property that has been stripped of trees to remove perceived risk often presents worse than one where the trees are healthy and the vendor can explain their status clearly. Do not over-correct. Engage an arborist to give you an honest assessment, then make targeted decisions about what to address and what to leave.

Steps to take before you list

If you have a mature tree near a boundary, near structures, or that you know has been a point of conversation with neighbours, the steps worth taking before listing are: check whether your tree is on Brisbane City Council's significant tree register or subject to council protection; review any correspondence with neighbours about tree-related matters; speak with your solicitor about disclosure obligations in your specific circumstances; and consider an arborist assessment if there is any question about the tree's health or root impact.

None of this is intended to create alarm. Most properties in Brisbane's inner east sell without tree issues becoming a factor. But for those where trees are genuinely a point of complexity, addressing it before you go to market is always better than managing it in the middle of a campaign when you have less use and more scrutiny.