Tree damage

Our ward-by-ward surveys seek to mitigate the risk of street trees causing damage to private property and infrastructure.

Tree damage is not always predictable or preventable, and when it does occur, we are not always able to remediate nor compensate for it.

Tree roots

It's not possible to predict the path of root growth. While it may be evident that roots have caused surface disturbance on the footway, this does not necessarily indicate that the tree will cause damage to the adjacent property.

We will not remove or prune the roots of trees where there is a perceived threat of damage, without evidence to support the likelihood of this outcome.

However, you can report pavement damage caused by tree roots to our Highways team.

Please note, we now install root barriers when we plant new trees to prevent this from happening.

Subsidence

Subsidence is uncommon in the London Borough of Richmond as the sub-soil is predominantly composed of non-shrinkable gravels.

If you're concerned about subsidence, you may wish to contact your home insurer, who will conduct a detailed investigation, on your behalf. 

Vehicle damage

In the unlikely event that a tree or tree branch falls on to your vehicle, damaging it, we encourage you to contact your vehicle insurer.

We're aware that many claimants prefer to pursue compensation through the Council when incidents like this occur. However, it can take a significant amount of time to reach an outcome and compensation is not guaranteed. 

Property damage

If you believe a Council tree has caused damage to your property you may wish to either seek compensation, or request that we do something about the tree to resolve the issue. You can complete our Request compensation for damage caused by a tree form.

You're required to submit evidence regardless of whether or not you are seeking compensation, as there are many possible causes of the damage, some not tree related, all of which need to be investigated. 

If you're seeking compensation, you must include two (ideally) repair quotations to proceed with your claim and you must be able to prove the Council are at fault because under our Public Liability Insurance policy there is no automatic right to compensation.

Damage we are not responsible for

We will not remediate nor compensate for the following types of damage caused by street trees:

Roots accessing drains

We're unable to prevent root ingress to within adjacent gardens and do not accept responsibility nor compensate for damage caused by tree roots that have gained access to drains or services, because of those services being unfit for purpose.

Falling leaves and detritus

We cannot reasonably control nor sustainably manage street trees to prevent or compensate for damage caused by natural seasonal occurrences such as:

• Autumn leaf fall
• Spring flower petals
• Fruit fall (including conkers)
• Seed deposits
• Undigested sap or aphid droppings
• Animal nuisance, e.g. droppings from roosting birds

Shade or loss of light

We cannot remediate the growth of, nor offer compensation for damage associated with shade or loss of light caused by our trees, as this is not treated as a legal nuisance.

Damage to privately owned vegetation

We cannot remediate the growth of, nor offer compensation for street trees causing damage to privately owned vegetation.