Tree removal in Ontario: permit rules by city and what it costs

Removing a tree in Ontario costs $300 to $1,500 for something under 30 feet and $2,500 to $12,000 for a large mature tree, with stump grinding another $150 to $600.

But the money is not the problem. The problem is that whether you need a permit depends entirely on your municipality, and the threshold ranges from 15 cm to 50 cm — or does not exist at all. Toronto protects private trees at 30 cm. Mississauga and Richmond Hill at 15 cm. Waterloo, Windsor and Oshawa have no private-tree by-law. Cutting without a permit where one was required can run to $100,000 per tree.

And one rule that overrides all of it: if the trunk sits on the property line, the tree belongs to both of you, and cutting it without your neighbour’s consent is an offence carrying a fine of up to $20,000 and possible imprisonment — with or without a municipal permit.

Do you need a permit? By municipality

Diameter is measured at about 1.4 m above ground, which is roughly chest height and is usually written DBH.

Every figure above comes from the municipality’s own page, checked 19 September 2026, except Vaughan — which we have deliberately left out. Vaughan’s pages would not return readable content, and the thresholds and fees circulating on arborist websites could not be confirmed against the City. If you are in Vaughan, phone the City rather than trusting a contractor’s number.

Two overlays that catch people outside the table: Durham Region regulates woodlands of 1 ha or more across Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax and Pickering, and Halton Region regulates woodlands and greenlands that Oakville’s own by-law excludes.

Toronto in detail

Toronto is the strictest regime in the province and it changed on 1 September 2026.

• The private-tree threshold is still 30 cm. Council approved lowering it to 20 cm, but that change needs further analysis and an implementation strategy reported in 2027. It is not in effect. If someone tells you the threshold is now 20 cm, they are ahead of the by-law.
• A new “distinctive tree” category gives heightened protection to trees over 61 cm, and replacement trees planted as a permit condition are protected regardless of size.
• City and street trees need a permit at any size. That includes boulevard trees and trees in a front yard adjacent to the road or sidewalk — which many homeowners assume are theirs.
• Notice. Two different periods, and people confuse them. A sign must be posted on the property for at least 14 days where the application concerns a healthy tree. For a boundary tree, written notice goes to the affected owner at least 15 days before a permit is issued. Then the issued permit itself must be posted visibly from the street one day before work starts.
• If you are refused, you have 14 days to write to the General Manager asking for the application to be heard by Community Council, where you can present your case. That decision is final and cannot be appealed further.
• Replacement. Ratios now start at 5:1 and rise with the diameter of the tree removed. Replacements must be at least 50 mm caliper deciduous or 1.75 to 2.5 m coniferous. Where there is no room, cash-in-lieu is $583 per tree.
• Penalty. Minimum $500 and maximum $100,000 per tree on conviction, plus a special fine of up to $100,000. Since September 2026 the City can use a 40 cm stump as secondary evidence of trunk diameter where the trunk is gone.

The ravine trap

Toronto’s Ravine and Natural Feature Protection by-law is a separate permit regime that ignores diameter entirely. Inside a designated ravine or natural feature area, injuring or removing any tree of any size is prohibited without a permit, as is altering the grade by excavation or fill.

A 10 cm sapling in a ravine area needs a permit. The identical sapling across the street does not. Ravine designation follows valleys and watercourses through ordinary residential neighbourhoods, and plenty of homeowners have no idea they are in one. Check the City’s map for your address before you assume anything.

Dead, dying and dangerous trees

There is no single Ontario rule, and the distinction between “dead” and “dying” matters more than people expect.

In every case the municipality decides, on either its own arborist’s inspection or a report from a private certified arborist. Your own opinion that the tree is dangerous is not a defence.

Arborist report costs in Ontario in 2026: $200 to $800 for a standard single-tree report supporting a permit, from $550 for a construction arborist report or tree protection plan, $500 to $1,500 for a risk assessment, and $800 to $1,500 or more for a multi-tree package. Rush service adds $100 to $200. That fee is on top of the municipal permit fee.

Boundary trees and a neighbour’s tree

This is where homeowners get into genuine legal trouble, and a municipal permit does not protect you.

Ontario’s Forestry Act says two things. A tree whose trunk grows on the boundary between adjoining lands is the common property of both owners. And anyone who injures or destroys such a tree without the consent of both owners commits an offence.

The penalty is a fine of up to $20,000, and possible imprisonment for up to three months.

Three points that catch people:

• “Trunk” is read broadly — the whole trunk column from where it leaves the roots to where it divides into limbs. A tree planted entirely on your side can lean over the years and become common property. Who planted it and who has been watering it is irrelevant.
• A municipal permit is not consent. You need both. In one Ontario case an owner who held a permit but acted unilaterally three and a half years later was convicted and fined $5,000 — the delay destroyed his claim that the tree was an urgent hazard.
• A co-owner can say no, and courts have upheld that even where removal carried some risk of damage. Consent cannot be unreasonably refused where the tree is a genuine nuisance, but blocking a future renovation does not meet that bar.

Branches and roots crossing the line

You may trim encroaching branches and roots back to the vertical plane of the property line, on your own property, without permission and without notice.

What you may not do is cross the line. No stepping onto their land, no ladder leaning over, no saw reaching past the boundary — all of that is trespass. And here is the awkward part: proper arboriculture says cut back to the branch collar, but if the collar is on their side, cutting to it is trespass anyway. The standard of care does not override the property line.

Two further cautions. The cut material remains the tree owner’s property in principle, so offer it back rather than throwing it over the fence. And severe pruning can trip a municipal by-law even when you are within your common-law rights — several by-laws define “injury” to include removing more than 20 per cent of live tissue in twelve months.

What removal costs

What actually drives the price, in order:

1. Proximity to the house, fences and hydro lines. The biggest multiplier by far. A tree that can be felled in one piece costs a fraction of the same tree taken down in sections and roped down under control.
2. Access for equipment. No gate wide enough for a chipper means everything is hand-carried, or a crane comes in over the house.
3. Species and wood density. Oak handles slower than softwood; large conifers price higher than deciduous at the same height.
4. Condition. Counterintuitively, a dead or structurally compromised tree costs more, not less — it cannot be safely climbed, which forces crane or bucket work.

Insurance

The Insurance Bureau of Canada sets out the shape of it clearly.

If a neighbour’s tree falls on your property, you claim on your own policy, regardless of whose tree it was. Ownership matters afterwards: if the owner was negligent — knew it was dead and did nothing — your insurer can pursue them. Which is exactly why a dated letter and an arborist report matter before a storm rather than after.

Who is qualified to do this

There is no licence to operate a tree service in Ontario. Anyone can buy a chainsaw and advertise. You are the only filter.

“Arborist” is a recognised Ontario trade, but a voluntary one — certification is not legally required, and because the trade is non-compulsory, holders do not appear on the Skilled Trades Ontario public register.

The credential that is publicly verifiable is the ISA Certified Arborist designation: demonstrated experience, a passed exam, renewal every three years and a code of ethics, with a public certificate directory you can search by name or number. Note the distinction the association itself warns about — being a member of the provincial chapter is not the same as employing anyone certified.

Before anyone climbs, ask for:

• Commercial general liability insurance, with the certificate sent from the insurer or broker rather than a photocopy from the truck. If a limb goes through your roof or a neighbour’s car, this is what pays.
• A WSIB clearance certificate, valid up to 90 days, which you can verify yourself through the WSIB’s clearance service. Be aware that an independent operator outside construction may not be required to register and so may have none — which means an uninsured solo climber falling in your yard is a risk that has to land somewhere.
• Current ISA certification, checked on the public directory.
• A written contract covering scope, the stump, debris removal, and who pulls the permit.

Our guide on contractor licensing in Ontario explains why so little of this is licensed and what the available checks actually prove.

When you can do it: the nesting window

The federal Migratory Birds Convention Act prohibits disturbing or destroying an active nest. It applies to a backyard exactly as it applies to a logging operation, and a municipal permit is no defence.

Environment and Climate Change Canada puts southern Ontario’s general nesting period at late March to late August, with peak intensity roughly mid-May to mid-July. Municipalities restate it more simply: common nesting runs 15 April to 31 July for most birds in southern Ontario.

Practically, that makes September through mid-March the clean window for tree work. If removal genuinely cannot wait, you do not get a free pass — the expectation is a nest survey by a qualified ecologist or biologist, conducted within two days before the work starts. Several municipalities now expect the arborist report itself to address nesting compliance.

The awkward overlap: the nesting window covers almost exactly the months people want the work done, and storm season with it. Book removals for autumn, or budget for the survey.

Red flags

What to do next

Measure the trunk before you do anything else. A tape around the trunk at chest height, divided by 3.14, gives you the diameter. That single number plus your municipality tells you whether this is a phone call or a permit application, and the two differ by months.

Then check two maps: whether you are in a protected or ravine area, and where your property line actually runs relative to the trunk. Both of those override the diameter rule.

If the tree is dead or you think it is dangerous, do not act on your own judgement. Get an arborist report — $200 to $800 — and take it to the City. In most municipalities that turns a fee into zero and gives you a document that protects you afterwards.

And if you are removing a tree because of a project rather than the tree itself, sequence it properly: trees get decided at concept stage, not at permit stage. Our guides on home additions and garden suites both cover projects that get redesigned around root systems, and the permit guide covers how the tree file sits alongside the building file.

One thing to be clear about: Carpenter Bee is a classified directory. We do not check or vet the companies listed here, and a listing is not a recommendation. The checks in this guide are yours to make, which is exactly why we wrote them down.

Sources

• Municipal tree by-law pages and fee schedules for Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Ottawa, Hamilton, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Windsor, Barrie, Guelph, Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Newmarket, Aurora, King Township and Caledon, all checked 19 September 2026
• City of Toronto — tree by-law review and the changes effective 1 September 2026; injure or remove trees application and fee schedule; when to apply for a tree or ravine permit; Municipal Code Chapter 813, toronto.ca, checked 19 September 2026
• Durham Region and Halton Region woodland by-laws, checked 19 September 2026
• Forestry Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.26, s. 10 — boundary trees, via published restatements by Siskinds LLP, Lawrences LLP and Daniel and Partners, checked 19 September 2026
• Insurance Bureau of Canada — “If a tree falls in the city,” ibc.ca, checked 19 September 2026
• Skilled Trades Ontario — arborist trade 444A, a non-compulsory trade; ISA Ontario and the ISA certified arborist public directory; WSIB clearances, checked 19 September 2026
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — general nesting periods for migratory birds (southern Ontario is zone C1, late March to late August); Town of Whitby homeowner guidance on the Migratory Birds Convention Act gives a narrower 15 April to 31 July window, checked 19 September 2026
• Removal pricing: ProScore, Toronto Tree Service Pros and HomeStars; arborist report pricing: The Arborist Group and Loyal Tree, all checked 19 September 2026

Tree by-laws, thresholds, fees and penalties differ across Ontario and change without notice — Toronto’s changed in September 2026 and Caledon’s took effect in January 2026. Confirm with your own municipality before removing anything. This is not legal advice, and a boundary tree dispute is a matter for a lawyer.