TPO Checks for Tree Surgeons:What to Check Before You Quote

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, it is an offence for any person to cut down, uproot, top, lop or wilfully damage a protected tree without consent. "Any person" includes the contractor holding the saw, not only the owner who asked for the work. Felling or destroying a protected tree carries an unlimited fine, and each tree counts separately.

"The customer told me it wasn't protected" is not a defence. Nor, in a conservation area, is "the customer said they'd sent the notice". A few minutes of checking at quote stage is the cheapest insurance in the trade.

Tree protection comes from several places, and a TPO search alone does not cover them all:

1. 1Tree Preservation Orders: individual, group, area and woodland orders.
2. 2Conservation areas: most trees with a stem 75 mm or more across at 1.5 m need six weeks' notice to the council (a section 211 notice) before work, even with no TPO.
3. 3Planning conditions: trees retained under a condition on a recent planning permission, common on newer estates and development sites.
4. 4Felling licences: felling more than 5 cubic metres of timber in a calendar quarter can need a Forestry Commission licence, though gardens and some other land are exempt.
5. 5Wildlife: nesting birds are protected, and bats and their roosts are protected too, whatever the tree's planning status.

The first two are map questions and quick to answer. The last three are worth a line on your site visit checklist.

Check when you price the job, not when the van arrives. At quote stage you can still:

• Build the consent or notice period into the timeline the customer agrees to.
• Price in the application, if you make it for them as their agent.
• Walk away from work that won't be consented, before anyone has booked a day.

Checking on the day leaves you choosing between a lost day and a risky job, which is exactly the pressure that leads to mistakes.

Write the result into the quote or the job sheet, dated:

• What you checked (TPO, conservation area) and where (council map, register, a report).
• What you found, including "nothing published for this area" where a council doesn't publish its data.
• What consent or notice is needed, and who is making the application.

If a question is ever raised about the work, a dated record made before the job started is what shows you did your homework. Photos of the tree before and after the work are worth keeping alongside it.

Not every council publishes its TPO data nationally, and some publish only part of it. A blank result from any online source, including this one, can mean "no records published" rather than "no protection".

Where the council's data isn't published, check its own register or ask the tree officer, and say so in your record. Most tree officers will confirm the status of a specific address by email, which gives you exactly the written confirmation you want on file.

Tree surgeons often make the application on the customer's behalf, through the Planning Portal or the council's own form. There is no fee, and councils aim to decide within eight weeks. A clear schedule of works, a sketch plan and photos make a quick decision far more likely.

The exemptions are narrower than many customers assume. Dead trees still need five working days' written notice to the council before removal, except in a genuine emergency. Work to make a tree safe in an emergency covers only what is urgently necessary, and you should be able to show why.

The firms that never get caught out treat the check as part of quoting, not an extra. TPO Checker Pro is built for that: a report for any English address covering TPOs, conservation areas, Article 4 directions and listed buildings, dated and carrying your own logo and contact details, so it can go straight to the customer with the quote.

Whatever tool you use, the rule is the same: check, record, and where the data is silent, confirm with the council.