BC court ordered a homeowner to pay $35,000 in damages after over-trimming neighbour's trees

A woman with a vacation home on B.C.’s Shuswap Lake spent years enjoying an unobstructed water view. Then a neighbour decided that view also belonged to them. This summer, a local court ordered that neighbour to pay her $35,000 after finding they’d cut down several of her trees without permission, in an effort to improve their sightline of the lake.

It’s an expensive lesson for anyone who has ever eyed a neighbour’s overgrown hedge or thought about “helping” with a chainsaw. In Canada, a tree standing on someone else’s land belongs to them — not to whoever finds it inconvenient. Treating it otherwise can turn a landscaping annoyance into a five-figure liability.

For the many Canadians who own a cottage, a waterfront lot or a home with a view worth protecting, that temptation is real. Here’s what the ruling means, what the law actually allows and how to handle a tree dispute without ending up in the same position.

Why ‘it’s just a few branches’ is the wrong assumption

Homeowners are generally allowed to trim branches or roots that cross onto their side of a property line. What they cannot do is enter a neighbour’s yard or damage a tree that isn’t theirs. If pruning goes too far and injures or kills someone else’s tree, the tree’s owner can sue for the cost of restoring it, and courts increasingly treat mature trees — especially ones planted for privacy or shade — as having real financial value.

The price tag can climb even higher

The Shuswap Lake case isn’t an outlier. In a widely cited 2021 ruling, the BC Supreme Court ordered a West Vancouver man to pay his neighbours more than $48,000 after he snuck onto their property and topped cedar trees they’d planted for privacy, despite being told not to touch them. The award combined compensation for the damaged trees with punitive damages meant to deter similar conduct, plus a permanent injunction barring him from entering the property again. Courts, in other words, can impose more than just a bill.

What to do instead

Before touching a neighbour’s tree, or if you’re already in a dispute, here’s how to go about a tricky conversation:

• Ask first, and get the answer in writing. A quick text or email confirming permission (or a refusal) becomes evidence if the disagreement escalates.
• Hire a licensed arborist for any trimming that touches a shared or disputed tree, and keep the invoice and photos.
• Know where small disputes get resolved. In B.C., claims under $5,000 go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, while those between $5,000 and $35,000 can go to Small Claims Court — both cheaper and faster than a full lawsuit.
• Check with your home insurer before assuming a policy will cover the fallout. Coverage for intentional acts, including tree damage, varies widely and is worth confirming ahead of time, not after a judgment arrives.
• Document everything. Take photos of the trees before and after, and collecting written requests and any responses from the neighbour.

If a tree is blocking a sightline or dropping needles where they aren’t wanted, the cheapest first move isn’t a chainsaw — it’s a conversation, followed by something in writing. As this Shuswap Lake neighbour just learned, skipping that step can cost far more than professional tree removal ever would.