Tree Preservation Order (TPO) Check by Postcode

A protected tree is easy to overlook until you want to prune it, fell it, or build where its roots run — and then a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) becomes very real: doing unauthorised work to a protected tree is a criminal offence carrying fines up to £20,000. This page explains how to check for TPOs and protected trees near a property using open planning data (planning.data.gov.uk), and what protection actually means for a buyer: what you can and can't do, the separate rules for trees in a conservation area, the penalties, and how a protected tree can constrain extensions and even insurance where subsidence is involved. The £24.99 Complete report screens planning and heritage designations for a specific address alongside 15+ checks from official sources.

Try or search any UK postcode

Search any England or Wales address to start your full property report.

Get the full picture for £24.99

This tool checks one data point. The HouseCheckup Complete report combines 15+ checks from official sources into one report with a composite IQ Score (0–100) — covering flood, EPC, crime, schools, transport, ground stability, investment potential, and more. One report, one price — £9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete. No subscription, no auto-renew.

See pricingView sample report

Why a Tree Preservation Order matters to a buyer

A mature tree in or beside the garden is usually an asset — until your plans collide with it. A Tree Preservation Order (TPO) makes it a criminal offence to fell, top, lop, uproot or wilfully damage a protected tree without the council's written consent, with fines up to £20,000 for destroying one. And liability can pass to a new owner who didn't know the order existed. If your reason for buying involves removing a tree, building where its roots run, or opening up a view, a TPO can stop or reshape that plan — so it's worth screening before you offer, not after completion.

How to check for protected trees

TPOs are made and held by the local planning authority, and many councils publish them on an interactive map. The national planning.data.gov.uk platform also carries TPO and protected-tree datasets you can query by location, which makes a useful screen for orders near a property. For the definitive position — whether a specific tree on the plot is protected and on what terms — confirm with the council's tree officer, and note that your conveyancer's CON29 local authority search directly asks whether the property is affected by a TPO.

What a TPO actually controls

A TPO can protect a single tree, a group, an area or a whole woodland. It doesn't freeze the tree forever — it gives the council control. You can apply for consent to carry out work, and for sensible management (crown reduction, deadwood removal, safety work) consent is often granted. The hard rule is simply that you must have that written consent before any work starts. Pruning a protected tree on a hunch that it'll be fine is exactly how owners end up prosecuted.

The penalties — and why ignorance isn't a defence

Breaching a TPO is treated seriously:

  • Up to £20,000 on conviction for destroying a protected tree or doing work likely to destroy it (unlimited in the Crown Court for the worst cases), with any financial benefit gained taken into account.
  • Up to £2,500 for lesser unauthorised work.

And because liability can attach to whoever does or commissions the work, a new owner who fells a protected tree not knowing it had a TPO is generally still liable. That single fact is the strongest argument for checking before you buy and before any tree work.

Conservation-area trees — protected by default

Even without a TPO, trees in a conservation area are protected: for any tree above roughly 75mm stem diameter (measured at 1.5m), you must give the council six weeks' written notice before doing work, during which they can make a TPO to protect it permanently. So a home in a conservation area effectively has its trees protected as standard — a related but separate regime worth checking alongside the TPO screen, since the two overlap without being identical.

Building near a protected tree

A protected tree near your intended extension doesn't necessarily block it, but it adds constraint and cost. Expect to need an arboricultural impact assessment and a tree protection plan, possibly special foundation design to avoid root damage, and separate consent for any work to the tree — which the council can refuse if the tree is important. If your offer is predicated on a particular build, confirm the tree position and protection first; it's a common reason a "perfect plot" turns out to have a hidden ceiling on what you can do.

Dangerous trees and subsidence

There are exemptions for genuinely dead, dying or dangerous trees, but they must be handled properly — give the council notice and keep evidence, because wrongly claiming an exemption is itself an offence. Where a protected tree is linked to subsidence, you usually still need consent to fell or reduce it, and the council, your insurer and an arboriculturist often have to be coordinated, since removing a tree can sometimes worsen ground heave. These are situations to route through the proper channels, never to resolve with a chainsaw on a Saturday.

How a TPO is made — and how to check the exact terms

A council can make a TPO whenever it considers a tree worth protecting in the interests of amenity — and it can do so quickly, with a provisional order taking effect immediately for six months while objections are heard. That means a tree on a property can become protected after you've viewed it but before you complete, so the screen you run early should be re-checked at the searches stage. Every order has a reference and a map defining precisely which trees are covered and as what (single tree T1, group G1, area A1, or woodland W1). Two orders can even overlap. When a tree near your plans is flagged, ask the council's tree officer for a copy of the order and its plan, because the protection attaches to specifically mapped trees, and the difference between "the oak by the gate" and "every tree on the plot" is the difference between a minor consent and a serious development constraint. The official order, not a third-party map, is the document that decides what you can do.

What this means before you offer

If your reason for buying is the house as it stands, a TPO is usually a background fact to note and respect. If your reason for buying involves changing the plot — felling for light, building an extension, re-landscaping — a protected tree can quietly cap your plans, and the time to discover that is before you commit, not after you've paid for an architect. Run the screen, read any order, and where it matters speak to the tree officer early; conservation and tree officers are generally constructive, and an early conversation often turns a hard "no" into a "yes, with conditions" you can design around.

From a TPO screen to the full picture

TPOs sit within the wider planning and heritage picture — planning applications, conservation areas and listed-building designations — that shapes what you can do with a property. The Complete report (£24.99) screens these designations for a specific address alongside flood, ground stability, the EPC, crime and the rest of its 15+ official-source checks, so the constraints on your plans are visible before you commit. For the broader hazard sweep, see the property red flags check.

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG) Tree Preservation Order and tree-preservation-zone datasets, plus local-authority TPO maps. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. National coverage is improving but not yet complete for every authority — confirm a 'nothing found' result with the local authority tree officer and the CON29 search.

Frequently asked questions

TPOs are made and held by the local planning authority, and many councils publish them on an interactive map; the national planning data platform (planning.data.gov.uk) also carries TPO and protected-tree datasets you can query by location. This gives you a screen for TPOs near a property. For the definitive position — whether a specific tree on the plot is protected and the exact terms — you confirm with the local authority's tree officer, and your conveyancer's local authority search (CON29) asks whether the property is affected by a TPO.
A TPO makes it a criminal offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy a protected tree without the local planning authority's written consent. It can protect a single tree, a group, an area, or a woodland. You can still apply to the council for consent to carry out work — and consent is often granted for sensible management — but you must have it in writing before any work starts. The order doesn't freeze the tree forever; it gives the council control over what happens to it.
They're serious. For destroying a protected tree, or doing work likely to destroy it, the maximum fine on conviction is £20,000 (and unlimited in the Crown Court for the most serious cases), with the court able to take into account any financial benefit gained. For lesser unauthorised work the fine can be up to £2,500. Crucially, liability can pass to a new owner: if you fell a protected tree not knowing it had a TPO, ignorance is not generally a defence — which is exactly why checking before you buy and before any tree work matters.
Yes. Trees in a conservation area with a stem diameter above a threshold (generally 75mm measured at 1.5m above the ground) are protected even if no TPO exists. You must give the local planning authority six weeks' written notice before doing any work, during which they can make a TPO to protect the tree permanently. So a property in a conservation area effectively has its trees protected by default — a separate check worth running alongside the TPO check, because the two regimes overlap but aren't identical.
Often, but it complicates things. A protected tree near where you want to build can restrict the footprint, require special foundation design to avoid root damage, and need consent for any pruning or works to the tree itself — and the council may refuse consent if the works would harm an important tree. Planning applications near protected trees usually need an arboricultural impact assessment and a tree protection plan. So a TPO doesn't necessarily block development, but it adds cost, design constraint and a consent step you must factor in before buying with building plans.
There are routes, but they need care. Genuinely dead, dying or dangerous trees can sometimes be worked on under an exemption, but you should give the council notice and keep evidence, because wrongly claiming the exemption is an offence. Where a protected tree is implicated in subsidence, you generally still need consent to fell or reduce it — and insurers, the council and an arboriculturist often have to be coordinated, because removing the tree can sometimes worsen heave. It's a situation to handle through the proper channels, not unilaterally, given the penalties.
Usually marginally, and it can cut both ways. A protected mature tree can be an amenity that adds character and value, and TPOs are common in desirable leafy areas. The downside is the constraint: a TPO can limit development potential, add maintenance obligations and consent steps, and — where roots or subsidence are involved — create cost and complexity. For most buyers it's a manageable factor to be aware of rather than a dealbreaker; the time it matters most is if your plans depend on removing or heavily pruning the tree.
From the national planning data platform (planning.data.gov.uk), maintained by MHCLG, which aggregates local-authority planning datasets including Tree Preservation Orders and tree-preservation zones under the Open Government Licence — plus individual councils' own TPO maps. Coverage is improving but not every authority has fully published its TPO data to the national platform yet, so a 'nothing found' screen should be confirmed with the local authority's tree officer and the conveyancing CON29 search before you rely on it.

Related tools

Planning ApplicationsArea CheckerProperty Red Flags

Last updated: