Subsidence, settlement and heave
The large tree is on the neighbour’s land, not in this garden. What can the survey add if you cannot fell it?
It can record the tree, roughly how it stands relative to the house, and any crack or distortion the surveyor is linking to it only as a possibility. It cannot make the neighbour cut it down, and it cannot tell you that you may. Felling is not your decision to take from a survey. The report also does not test the soil and does not monitor a crack.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A tree next door can still be relevant on clay, because roots do not stop at a fence. The Association of British Insurers discusses trees among the factors that can affect the ground under a house, and it describes subsidence as downward movement of that ground. Relevance is not a right to remove the tree. The trunk, the crown and usually the roots in the neighbour’s soil belong to that property. A home survey does not decide ownership, does not serve a notice, and does not say a court would allow you to cut anything. Those questions go to your solicitor, with the facts of this boundary.
Ask the surveyor to keep the sentence factual: species if they know it, position, and what damage they actually saw. Do not let “large tree next door” become “subsidence” without the crack or the distortion being described. Do not budget as if you will grub the tree out after completion. You may never be allowed to. If an insurer or a lender asks about trees, send the surveyor’s words and say the tree is not on the plot you are buying. This inspection has not measured root spread and will not invent a water-uptake figure.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is the trunk relative to this house, and whose land is it on?
- What damage did you see, as distinct from the mere presence of the tree?
- Are you advising me that the tree can be removed? I need that kept out if you are not.
What are the typical next steps?
- Tell your solicitor the tree is on neighbouring land and that the survey is not permission to fell it.
- Do not write a price reduction that assumes you will remove the neighbour’s tree.
- If a crack is the real issue, deal with the crack. The tree sentence is context, not a works order.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Can you cut roots that cross the boundary?
Do not start from the survey. Cutting roots can harm the tree and can be a dispute. Ask the solicitor before anyone digs. The survey has not mapped the roots.
Does the neighbour’s tree mean this house has subsided?
No. It means a tree is close. Movement still has to be described, and the soil was not tested.