There is a big tree at the bottom of the garden, it has grown into the neighbour's light or a little too close to the house, and three quotes for the work sit hundreds of pounds apart. Here is the uncomfortable truth behind that decision: anyone can call themselves a tree surgeon. There is no statutory register, no licence, nothing like the Gas Safe Register that the law requires for gas work. And yet tree work, unusually for a garden job, leaves a public paper trail, because a lot of it needs council permission first.
The permission question comes before the quote
Two protections matter in an ordinary garden. If the tree carries a Tree Preservation Order, almost any work on it needs consent. If your home sits in a conservation area, you generally need to notify the council before working on trees above a modest size. Both are checkable in minutes on your council's website, and any tree surgeon worth hiring will ask the question before quoting. Larger fellings beyond a garden can also need a felling licence from the Forestry Commission, which is its own regime. When in doubt, look the tree up first; the fines for getting this wrong fall on the tree's owner as well as whoever swings the saw.
The good news from the record: councils say yes most of the time. Of 72,176 decided tree-work applications we analysed from council registers, 93.1% were approved, and among decisions in the last five years the share is 94%. Permission is not the obstacle people fear. Skipping it is the expensive mistake, because working on a protected tree without consent is a criminal offence.
How long the wait really is
Across all the tree-work applications councils publish, the typical wait from an application appearing in the record to a published decision is 42 days, about six weeks. Different kinds of tree application run on different council clocks, and the published records do not let us separate them cleanly, so treat six weeks as the honest middle rather than a promise. The practical version: if the work has a season in mind, the application belongs in the diary a couple of months earlier.
The autumn queue is real
Tree work is seasonal in a way most trades are not, partly because serious pruning and felling favour the dormant months and partly because the law protects active nests whenever birds are using them, which in practice keeps heavy cutting out of spring and summer. The record shows it plainly: October alone accounts for roughly one in eight of a typical year's tree-work applications, about double February's share, and the September to November climb repeats in most years we hold. Put the timing advice together and it writes itself: decide in summer, apply in late summer, and your consent tends to arrive as the season opens while the October crowd is still in the queue.
Six checks that stand in for the missing licence
Because there is no register to look a tree surgeon up on, the vetting burden shifts to checks you can run yourself, and they are all free. Ask whether the tree is protected, and expect a good tree surgeon to have asked first. If permission is needed, see the council's written decision before anyone starts; the consent names what can be done, and a professional will work to it. Ask for the public liability insurance certificate and ring the insurer on a number you look up yourself, not one printed on the certificate, because tree work is high-risk and a mistake is expensive. Ask who carries away the waste: anyone who takes your green waste away as part of their business must be a registered waste carrier, whatever the volume, the register is free to search, and fly-tipped garden waste can be traced back to the household it came from, where the fine lands. Check voluntary credentials with the scheme that issued them, since bodies like the Arboricultural Association run public member lists; membership is a good signal, never a guarantee, and absence proves nothing. And get the quote and method in writing: what comes down, what stays, who tidies, and when.
The same logic covers landscapers
Everything above generalises to the wider garden trades. Landscapers, like tree surgeons, have no statutory register, so the evidence that exists carries more weight: reviews with recent dates across more than one site, a company record you can read, insurance you can confirm, and paperwork discipline. Garden projects can also brush against the planning system more often than people expect, since outbuildings, garden rooms, boundary walls and new driveways can all need permission depending on size and place. Your council's planning portal answers in minutes, and our planning tools let you see recent architect-designed applications near you, and approval odds by project type. For the full vetting method, our free checklist for any tradesperson walks through every public record in about ten minutes.
Do I need permission to cut down a tree in my own garden?
Sometimes. If the tree has a Tree Preservation Order, almost any work needs the council's consent first. In a conservation area you generally need to notify the council before working on trees above a modest size. Outside those protections, garden tree work usually needs no permission at all. Felling licences from the Forestry Commission apply to larger fellings outside gardens; garden trees are exempt. Your council's website tells you in minutes whether a tree is protected, and that is always the first check.
Are tree surgeons licensed in the UK?
No. There is no statutory register or licence for tree surgeons, and anyone can use the title. Voluntary schemes exist, such as the Arboricultural Association's approved contractor scheme, and their public member lists are worth checking, but membership is optional. That is why the practical checks matter: protection status, written consent, confirmed insurance, a registered waste carrier, and a written quote.
How long does tree-work permission take?
Across all the tree-work applications councils publish, the typical wait we measured from application to published decision is 42 days, about six weeks. Different application types run on different council clocks, so build in a couple of months if the work has a deadline, and remember autumn is the busy season for applications.
What happens if you cut down a protected tree without consent?
It is a criminal offence, prosecuted in the courts, and the penalties can be substantial fines. Responsibility can fall on the tree's owner as well as the person who did the work, which is exactly why a reputable tree surgeon asks about protection before quoting and works to the written consent.
When is the best time to book a tree surgeon?
Ahead of the crowd. In the records we hold, tree-work applications climb through late summer to a peak in September, October and November, with October alone taking roughly one in eight of a typical year's applications. Deciding in summer and applying in late summer means your consent tends to arrive as the dormant season opens, while the autumn queue is still forming.
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