How do we remove a dead or dangerous tree on our HOA's common area?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 30, 2026

How an HOA board removes one dead or hazardous common-area tree: arborist risk report, city permit rules, fast board votes, the crew contract and neighbor notice.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Get a written risk assessment from a qualified arborist, check whether the city requires a permit, vote on the removal in a way your state allows, hire an insured crew with a written scope, and tell the neighbors before the crew shows up. For a tree that is cracked and leaning over a house after a storm, all five steps can happen in two days. For a dead oak at the back of a retention pond, take two or three weeks and do it properly. This guide covers one tree, or a handful, that the board has to deal with now. For the long-term survey, pruning rotation and written removal policy, see our guide on how to plan an HOA tree maintenance program. Rules vary by state, by city ordinance and by your governing documents, so treat this as general education and not legal advice.

Get the risk in writing before anyone votes

An owner's email saying the tree looks dead is a report, not a finding. Hire an ISA Certified Arborist, ideally one who also holds the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. ISA says that credential covers limited-visual and basic tree risk assessment and how to make mitigation recommendations, and holders retrain and retest every seven years. Ask for a one-page report with the tree's location and species, trunk diameter at 4.5 feet, what is wrong with it, what it would hit if it failed, a risk rating, and whether pruning, cabling or removal is the fix. Two reasons to pay for this even when the answer seems obvious. First, the report is what a city permit office usually wants to see. Second, it is the board's record. If a tree the association knew about falls on a car, the question will be what the board knew and what it did. A dated report, a vote and an invoice answer that. Pay the arborist for the assessment separately from the removal bid, or at least tell the company up front that the work will go out for quotes. Our guide on who is responsible when a tree falls in an HOA explains why notice matters.

Check the city's tree rules first

Many cities regulate tree removal on private land, and common area is private land. Call the city forester or planning office, give them the address and the species and diameter from the arborist's report, and ask whether a permit, fee or replacement tree is required. Texas: Local Government Code section 212.905(h) says a city may not prohibit the removal of, or charge a tree mitigation fee for, a tree that is diseased or dead or that poses an imminent or immediate threat to persons or property. That does not stop a city from asking you to file paperwork showing the tree qualifies, so still call. Florida: section 163.045 bars local permits, fees and replanting requirements when an ISA Certified Arborist or Florida licensed landscape architect documents that removal is the only practical way to bring a tree's risk below moderate. The statute defines residential property as a single-family detached building on a lot used as a home, so do not count on it for a common-area tree. Colorado has no statewide rule. City rules do the work, and trees in the public right-of-way are the usual trap. Denver, for example, requires a permit before anyone removes a public tree, requires a licensed tree service company, and says the contractor pulls the permit and review can take up to 5 business days. If the tree sits in the strip between the sidewalk and the street, ask whether it belongs to the city before you pay to remove it.

Voting fast without breaking meeting rules

A dead tree on the far edge of the property can wait for the next regular meeting. A split trunk over a unit cannot. Know how your state lets the board act between meetings before the storm comes. Texas: Property Code section 209.0051(h) lets the board act outside a meeting, including by email, without prior notice to owners, as long as every director gets a reasonable chance to give an opinion to the others and vote. The action has to be summarized orally and put in the minutes of the next meeting, with the known or estimated cost. Removing a tree is not on the list of items that require an open, noticed meeting, but approving a budget amendment to pay for it is. Florida: section 720.303(2)(c) requires board meeting notices posted 48 hours ahead except in an emergency, and after a governor's emergency declaration section 720.316 lets the board contract for debris removal and act to prevent further damage or injury, unless the governing documents prohibit it. Colorado: CCIOA section 38-33.3-308(2)(a) opens all board meetings to members. Under the Nonprofit Corporation Act, section 7-128-202, directors can act without a meeting by written consent, email included, unless the articles or bylaws say otherwise, and any one director can block that by demanding a meeting in writing. Sample motion: 'Move to remove tree 42 as rated high risk in the arborist report dated June 3, by Oak Ridge Tree Service, at a cost not to exceed $3,200 including stump grinding, and to replant one approved species at the same site this fall.'

Hire the crew with a written scope

Get two or three quotes on the same scope, even for a small job. The scope should say which tree by tag number or photo, whether the wood is hauled or left cut in rounds, whether a crane or bucket truck is needed, how deep the stump is ground, whether the hole is backfilled and seeded, and who repairs lawn, curb or irrigation damage from equipment. Collect a certificate of insurance naming the association before work starts, with general liability and workers' compensation. Our guide on how to check a vendor certificate of insurance walks through what to look for. If any part of the tree is within reach of a power line, stop and call the electric utility. Most utilities send their own line-clearance crew or de-energize the line, and a general tree crew should not be working near it. Call 811 before stump grinding or root removal. Texas Utilities Code section 251.002 treats mechanized digging that disturbs soil 16 or more inches deep as excavation. Florida section 556.102 has no depth cutoff. Colorado section 9-1.5-102 exempts routine landscape maintenance only up to 4 inches deep when done by machine, and grinding out a large stump goes well past that. Ask the crew who places the locate request and wait for the marks.

Tell the neighbors before the chainsaws

Owners who wake up to a missing tree assume the board did something wrong. Send a short notice to the homes that face or back onto the tree at least a week ahead for a planned removal, and the same day for an emergency. Post it on the community website too. Sample notice: 'The association will remove the dead pecan behind 118 to 124 Willow Lane on Tuesday, October 14, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. A certified arborist rated the tree high risk because of trunk decay; the report is available on request. Please move cars off the Willow Lane guest spaces by 7:30 a.m. The crew will grind the stump and reseed. A replacement tree will go in this fall.' If the tree straddles a lot line or leans over an owner's yard, talk to that owner in person before the notice goes out. If the tree is partly on their lot, get their written agreement to the work and settle who pays for what first.

A sample two-week timeline and the mistakes to skip

Day 1: an owner reports the tree. The manager or a director photographs it, tapes off the area if limbs are hanging over a walk, and orders the arborist visit. Days 3 to 5: the arborist report arrives. Call the city about permits. Days 5 to 10: collect quotes and certificates. Day 10: the board votes, at a meeting or through the between-meeting process your state allows. Day 12: notice to neighbors, and the contractor pulls any permit and requests the 811 locate. Day 14 or later: removal, stump grinding and cleanup. Fall or spring: replant. Mistakes boards make: letting a volunteer with a chainsaw take down anything bigger than a sapling, which puts an uninsured neighbor under a falling trunk. Removing a public right-of-way tree without asking whose it is. Skipping the written report because everyone can see the tree is dead, then having nothing to show the insurer later. Voting by a string of text messages that leaves one director out. And never replanting, so each removal leaves a bare spot the owners notice for years.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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