Short answer – sometimes. If the tree is protected under Redland City Council’s vegetation rules and you want it removed or heavily pruned, Council will generally require a Tree Assessment Report prepared by an arborist qualified to AQF Level 5 before it will consider your application. If the tree isn’t protected, you usually don’t need a report or an approval at all.
The difficulty is that most people can’t tell which category their tree falls into by looking at it. This guide explains how to work that out.
We’ve worked across the Redlands since 2009 and regularly prepare Tree Assessment Reports for Council applications. Our reports are prepared by an AQF Level 5 Arborist at Family Tree Care.
First – is your tree actually protected?
In Redland City, trees on private land can be protected by two separate mechanisms, and either one is enough to require approval:
- Council’s Local Law No. 6 (Protection of Vegetation) 1998, made under the Local Government Act 2009
- Environmental overlays under the Redland City Plan
On top of those, a tree can also be protected by a covenant on the title, a building envelope, or a condition attached to a past development approval on the property. Those catch a lot of people out – particularly on newer estates, where a covenant registered when the block was subdivided can protect a tree the current owner never planted and knows nothing about.
According to Council’s published guidance, you can remove a tree without approval where all of the following are true:
- it isn’t within an Environmental Significance overlay
- the work doesn’t exceed Council’s clearing limits
- there’s no protective covenant on the property
- the tree isn’t subject to a vegetation protection order
If any one of those doesn’t hold, you need approval – and that’s where the report comes in.
Removing protected vegetation without approval is an offence, and penalties apply. That is Council’s own wording. We’ve been called to quote on jobs where a neighbour has already reported the work, and it is not a good position to be in.
How to check before you commit to anything
Call Council on (07) 3829 8999 or email rcc@redland.qld.gov.au with your property address and ask whether the tree is protected. It’s free, it takes one phone call, and it’s the only reliable answer. Anyone who tells you confidently over the phone that your tree definitely isn’t protected without checking your address is guessing.
The onus is on the tree owner to contact Council to determine the status of a tree or trees within their property boundary. We strongly recommend that you obtain a reference number for the call if verbal advice is given, or even better, request an email or advice in writing of what you are able to do.
When you don’t need a report at all
Plenty of routine work needs neither approval nor a report:
Pruning and maintenance to the Australian Standard. Routine maintenance carried out in accordance with AS 4373-2007 (Pruning of amenity trees) doesn’t require Council approval. That covers most crown lifting, deadwood removal, clearance pruning and general maintenance – provided it’s done to the Standard. Work that goes beyond the Standard, such as topping or lopping a protected tree, is a different matter, and a poor prune on a protected tree can itself become a compliance problem.
Everyday yard maintenance. In November 2025, following community concern about a proposal to reintroduce an Environmental Significance Overlay, Council confirmed that residents can continue managing vegetation on their properties without planning approval for routine activities – trimming along fence lines or near buildings, fire management and fire breaks, and ordinary garden maintenance.
Unprotected trees. If the tree isn’t captured by an overlay, a covenant, a protection order or the clearing limits, you can generally remove it without involving Council.
Council also recommends using a qualified arborist – minimum AQF Level 3 – for tree work on private property, whether or not approval is required. That’s a lower bar than the AQF5 needed for reports, but it’s worth knowing that Council has a view on who should be doing the work in your yard.
The exception: trees posing an imminent risk
If a tree presents an imminent risk of serious personal injury or damage to infrastructure, Council’s guidance indicates approval is not required before acting.
This exemption is narrower than most people assume. “Imminent” means what it sounds like – a tree that has failed or is actively failing, not a tree you’ve decided you’d rather not have. A large gum you’re worried about in principle is not an imminent risk. A gum with a fresh crack through the union and a limb hanging over a bedroom, after 80mm of rain, generally is.
If you think you have one:
- Keep people and vehicles out from under it
- Photograph it from several angles before anything is touched, including close-ups of the defect
- Call us on (07) 3829 2331
- If it’s touching or near powerlines, call Energex on 13 19 62 first – not us, and not a mate with a chainsaw!
The photographs matter. If Council later asks why a protected tree came down without approval, contemporaneous photographs of the defect are the evidence that the exemption applied. Removing the tree first and taking photos of the stump afterwards is a much weaker position.
What a Tree Assessment Report actually is
Where a protected tree is hazardous and you want it removed or pruned, Council requires a Tree Assessment Report from a qualified arborist at minimum AQF Level 5, supporting the proposed work.
That AQF Level 5 requirement is the part worth pausing on. It is a specific qualification – a Diploma of Arboriculture – and it is materially higher than the AQF3 that a competent climbing arborist typically holds. A report prepared by someone without it will not satisfy Council. We have been asked more than once to re-do a report a homeowner had already paid for, because the person who wrote it wasn’t qualified to.
If you’re getting quotes for a report, ask one question: what AQF level is the arborist writing it? If the answer is not Level 5, call Family Tree Care!
What’s in the report
A Tree Assessment Report for a Council application generally covers:
- Species identification, dimensions and estimated age
- The tree’s health and structural condition, assessed against recognised methodology
- The specific defects observed, and what they mean for the likelihood of failure
- The target – what or who is beneath the tree, and how often
- Whether the risk can be reduced by pruning instead of removal
- A recommendation, with reasoning
- Photographs, a site plan and the arborist’s qualifications
The point Council is testing is whether removal is genuinely necessary or whether something less drastic would do. A report that recommends removal for every tree it looks at is not a useful report, and assessors notice. Where a tree can reasonably be retained, we say so – which sometimes means telling a client the answer they didn’t want.
Read more about our Tree Assessment Reports →
Applying to Council
You’ll need to complete Council’s Remove or Trim Vegetation on Private Property form. Complete all the details as required and include the following:
- Images of the tree(s) to be pruned and/or removed
- Site plan showing the location of the tree(s) on site
- Reason for the tree works – pruning and/or removal
- Signature of applicant and owner of the subject property
- Written arborist recommendations regarding proposed tree works – arborist must have minimum Level 5 (AQF5) qualification
The common situations we’re called about
“The tree is dropping limbs on my driveway.” Worth assessing. Limb drop can indicate a structural problem or it can be normal for the species and season. Eucalypts shed. That alone doesn’t make a tree dangerous or removable.
“The roots are lifting my path / getting into my pipes.” Common, and rarely on its own a sufficient reason for Council to approve removing a protected tree. Root barriers, path relocation and pipe relining are usually cheaper than removal anyway. A report should consider these.
“My neighbour’s tree overhangs my yard.” Different area of law entirely – this is the Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011, not Council’s vegetation rules. You generally have rights regarding overhanging branches, but a protected tree is still protected regardless of which side of the fence it’s on, and the protection doesn’t disappear because the branches are over your side. Talk to your neighbour first; it’s almost always cheaper than the alternative. See our tree disputes page for more.
“We’re subdividing / building and the tree is in the way.” That’s a different report again – an arboricultural impact assessment under AS 4970:2025, which superseded the 2009 edition. Development applications have their own requirements.
“It’s dead.” Still check. A dead tree can remain protected, and dead standing trees have habitat value that Council may weigh. Dead is not automatically approved.
What to do next
- Check whether the tree is protected – call Council on (07) 3829 8999 with your address
- If it’s protected and you want it removed – you’ll need a Tree Assessment Report from an AQF Level 5 arborist
- If it’s an imminent risk – photograph it, keep clear, and call us on (07) 3829 2331
- If it’s not protected – you can proceed, though we’d still recommend a qualified arborist for anything of size
Family Tree Care has prepared Tree Assessment Reports for properties across the whole of the Redlands, including Redland Bay, Victoria Point, Cleveland, Thornlands, Alexandra Hills and Capalaba. Our reports are written by an AQF Level 5 arborist, which is what Council requires.
Request a quote for a Tree Assessment Report → or call (07) 3829 2331.
This guide is general information about Redland City Council’s published requirements as at August 2026, not legal advice, and Council’s rules change. Always confirm your specific situation with Redland City Council before removing or pruning a tree.