Under California Civil Code Section 833, a tree belongs exclusively to the owner of the land where its entire trunk stands, even if the roots grow into a neighbor’s yard or the branches reach across the fence.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 833 (2025) The statute is a single sentence, and it settles only the ownership question. Everything else that comes with owning a tree in California — maintenance duties, the neighbor’s right to trim, liability when a branch falls — lives in other statutes and in the case law built around them.
What Section 833 Actually Decides
Ownership follows the trunk. If the trunk sits wholly on your side of the property line, the tree is yours. It does not matter that the roots have lifted your neighbor’s driveway, that half the canopy shades their yard, or that most of the leaves fall on their lawn each October. The tree is legally yours, and so are the responsibilities that come with it.
Section 833 says nothing about who has to trim, who pays when a limb falls, or whether you can cut the tree down. Those questions are answered elsewhere.
When the Trunk Straddles the Property Line
A different rule applies the moment any part of the trunk crosses the boundary. Civil Code 834 provides that a tree whose trunk stands partly on the land of two or more adjoining owners belongs to those owners in common.2California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 834 (2025) Both neighbors are co-owners, and neither can remove the tree without the other’s consent.
Cutting down a boundary tree without your co-owner’s agreement exposes you to liability for their share of the tree’s value, and that liability can be multiplied under Civil Code 3346. Before touching a tree whose trunk sits on the line, get written agreement from the other owner.
A Neighbor’s Right to Trim What Crosses Over
Even though the tree is yours under Section 833, your neighbor is not powerless about branches and roots that reach onto their land. California recognizes a self-help right: a neighbor can trim branches and roots that cross the property line, without your permission, and the encroachment does not have to be causing damage.
That right has real limits. In Booska v. Patel, the California Court of Appeal held that the right to trim is not absolute and that a property owner must use ordinary care when cutting encroaching branches or roots.3Justia Law. Booska v Patel (1994) The court grounded that duty in Civil Code 1714, which requires owners to manage their property without injuring others. What it means in practice:
- Trimming stops at the property line. A neighbor cannot come onto your yard to cut, and cannot cut past their side of the line.
- A neighbor who trims so aggressively that the tree dies or becomes unstable can be liable for the value of the tree, potentially multiplied under Civil Code 3346.
- Written notice before major trimming is not required by statute, but it protects everyone involved and creates a record.
The mirror rule matters for tree owners too. If your neighbor gives you notice that a branch or root is a problem and you ignore it, that notice becomes evidence of what you knew when you knew it.
When Your Tree Damages a Neighbor’s Property
Owning a tree under Section 833 means owning the risk it creates. California holds tree owners liable when they were negligent — that is, when the owner knew or should have known the tree was hazardous and failed to act. A dead limb hanging for months, a visible lean toward the neighbor’s house, obvious trunk decay: each puts the owner on notice and creates a duty to address the problem.
If a healthy tree with no warning signs falls in a storm, the owner is generally not liable. That loss is treated as a natural event, and the damaged neighbor’s own homeowner’s insurance typically covers the repair. The pivot between the two outcomes is whether the owner had reason to know the tree was dangerous, which is why a written complaint from a neighbor carries so much weight later.
Nuisance
Beyond negligence, a neighbor can bring a nuisance claim. Civil Code 3479 defines a nuisance as anything that obstructs the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3479 California courts have applied that language to trees. In Bonde v. Bishop, a tree that repeatedly dropped large branches onto a neighbor’s roof was found to be a nuisance. The interference has to be substantial and unreasonable; ordinary leaf fall or a few acorns will not qualify.
A successful nuisance claim can produce a court order requiring the owner to trim or remove the tree, along with money damages for harm already done.
How Insurance Usually Handles It
When a neighbor’s tree damages your house, the common assumption is that the tree owner’s insurance pays. Usually it doesn’t, at least not first. You file with your own homeowner’s policy, which covers the structural damage regardless of where the tree came from. If the tree owner was negligent, your insurer may pursue their insurer through subrogation, and you may recover your deductible if that effort succeeds. When a healthy tree comes down in a storm, the loss stays with the damaged property.
Penalties for Cutting Someone Else’s Tree
The other side of Section 833 ownership is that cutting a tree that belongs to someone else carries steep consequences.
Treble and Double Damages Under Civil Code 3346
Civil Code 3346 sets a multiplier on damages for wrongful injury to timber, trees, or underwood on another person’s land. Intentional cutting owes three times the actual loss. Cutting that was casual, involuntary, or done by a person who genuinely believed the land was their own drops the multiplier to two times the actual loss. The only carve-out where damages equal the actual loss is wood taken by authorized highway officers for public road repair.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3346 (2025)
The “actual loss” figure is what makes this statute bite. Courts look at replacement value for a mature tree, any diminished property value, and related costs such as erosion repair. A single large tree can be valued in the thousands, and tripling that number turns unauthorized cutting into an expensive mistake. Claims must be filed within five years.
Criminal Liability Under Penal Code 384a
Cutting or removing trees or other plant material from land you do not own, without a written and notarized permit from the landowner, is a misdemeanor under Penal Code 384a. Conviction carries a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 384a The statute also criminalizes knowingly selling or transporting illegally cut material. Prosecutions between neighbors are uncommon, but the statute is available for egregious conduct.
Owning the Tree Does Not Always Mean You Can Remove It
Section 833 makes the tree yours, but it does not override local law. Many California cities and counties have tree preservation ordinances that require a permit before you remove an established tree on your own property. Some protect specific species such as oaks or designated heritage trees; others apply to any tree above a set trunk diameter. Violations can bring fines and mandatory replanting. Check with your city’s planning or public works department before removing anything significant.
Working Out Disputes
Most tree disagreements never reach court. A direct conversation resolves the majority. A follow-up letter documenting the problem and asking for action does two jobs at once: it opens dialogue and creates the notice record that matters if things escalate.
When talking stalls, mediation is worth trying. A neutral mediator is faster and cheaper than litigation, and many California counties run community mediation programs at low or no cost. For money damages, small claims court is often the right venue, and Civil Code 3346’s multiplier can push even a modest tree’s value into a meaningful claim.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 116.221 (2025) Superior court is the path for larger damages or when you need a court order forcing a neighbor to trim or remove a dangerous tree.