Tree Service Assessment & Consultation for Landlords & Letting Agents in Exeter

An inspection for a landlord is usually a visual assessment from the ground. The inspector looks at each significant tree for dead or hanging branches, fungal brackets, cavities, cracks, weak forks, root plate movement and signs of poor past pruning, and considers what lies beneath: a parking space, a footpath, a play area or a neighbour's conservatory. The output should be a short report listing each tree, its location and condition, any recommended work with a priority, and when it should next be inspected. Trees close to buildings on shrinkable clay soils may also be noted for a structural surveyor to consider.

Frequency depends on the trees and their surroundings. A small garden with young ornamental trees may need little more than a check at the start of each let, while mature trees beside a road or a shared car park justify inspection at regular intervals and after severe storms. Where the inspector finds something that needs closer examination, such as decay at the base of a large tree, they may recommend a detailed assessment by an arboricultural consultant.

Recommended work should be checked for protection before it is instructed. The council's tree officer, or the local planning authority's online constraints map, will show whether a preservation order or conservation area covers the property, and the answer belongs on the property file. Agents managing properties for absent landlords should build the time for applications or six-week notices into their planning, because work on a protected tree cannot legally start early just because a new let is about to begin. Where a renter asks for a tree to be removed for more light, the same process applies.

Access needs the same care as every other contractor visit. Agree with the renter when the inspection or work will happen, whether they need to move vehicles or garden furniture, and whether pets must be kept indoors; arrange keys and gate codes in advance. For blocks of flats and larger shared houses, trees usually stand in communal grounds managed by the freeholder or a managing agent, so inspections and work orders should run through them and residents should be told what is planned.

Keep the reports with the property's other safety records. They show a buyer, an insurer or a council officer that the trees were inspected and that recommended work was acted on. Where a renter reports a concern, such as a cracked limb after a storm, record the report, arrange an inspection and keep the outcome, even if no work turns out to be needed.

The quotes worth accepting separate the inspection from any resulting work, give a date by which the report will be issued, list each tree with a priority, explain how cuttings will be removed, say whether the firm will handle Tree Preservation Order applications, and state the public liability cover held for the work proposed.