Neighbours' trees in Torbay
Start with a conversation. Community Law says it's always best to talk to your neighbour first, and agreeing on one quote for both sides can make the rest easier.
If that doesn't work, you can cut back the parts of a neighbour's hedge or tree that grow over onto your property, as far as the boundary. Beyond that, the Property Law Act 2007 lets you apply to the District Court for an order to trim or remove it, and the Act counts any shrub or plant as a tree, so hedges are included.
Judges are cautious about making those orders, and whoever applies usually pays for the work unless the judge decides otherwise. Our neighbours' trees guide walks through it. Treat all of this as information, not legal advice.
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Torbay
You can
- Trimming a hedge you can reach with both feet on the ground, using hand shears or loppers.
- Cutting back soft new growth on your own side of the boundary.
- Raking up and bagging clippings.
- Photographing the hedge and the boundary before you talk to the neighbour.
Leave to an arborist
- Any hedge too tall to reach from the ground.
- Cutting an old, overgrown hedge right down, or removing it along with the stumps.
- Anything growing near a power line.
- Native trees near Awaruku Creek, Deep Creek or the cliff tops, where consent may be needed.
Tree removal in Torbay: what's local
Awaruku Bush
Awaruku Bush Reserve is remnant kahikatea forest kept aside when the suburb grew in the 1960s, and its oldest kahikatea is estimated at over 650 years old. Schedule 10 also lists a kahikatea in a reserve on Awaruku Road.
Two creeks
Awaruku Creek runs through the north of Torbay and Deep Creek through the south. Under rule E15, altering or removing vegetation within 10 m of an urban stream is a restricted discretionary activity.
Cliffs and a marine reserve
Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve borders the north-east coast, and pōhutukawa were always a big part of this shoreline. A native over 3 m tall within 20 m of the top of a cliff steeper than 1 in 3 that's within 150 m of mean high water springs needs consent to alter or remove.
Listed trees on ordinary streets
Schedule 10 names a kōwhai on Beach Road, a pōhutukawa on Law Street and a silver dollar gum in the Awaruku Road road reserve. Next door in Waiake it lists Norfolk Island pines in the Beach Road beach reserve and groups of pōhutukawa along the road.
Sections from 1915 and the 1970s
Torbay was first subdivided in 1915, when 57 sections sold as the Deep Creek Estate, and it grew into a suburb in the 1970s after the Northern Motorway was improved.
Hiring an arborist in Torbay
We'd talk to the neighbour, agree a height in writing, and get one arborist to quote both sides at once, including taking away the green waste. For a big tree rather than a hedge, check the distance to the creek or the cliff edge and search Schedule 10 first, then ask Auckland Council if the tree is a native near either. The Auckland Council rules page sets out what's protected.