Can I Get a Letter Saying My Tree Is Dangerous So I Can Remove It Without a Permit?

Here is what the current statute text says:

• Whose property. Residential property, which the law defines as a single-family, detached building on a lot actively used as a single-family home. Townhomes, duplexes, condos, apartments and commercial property are not covered.
• What paperwork. An onsite tree risk assessment done under the ISA’s Best Management Practices: Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017), by an ISA Certified Arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect, and signed by that person.
• Which trees. A tree that poses an unacceptable risk, which the law defines as a tree where removal is the only practical way to bring its risk below moderate.
• What the city or county cannot require. A notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation for pruning, trimming or removing that tree, and it cannot require you to replant.
• What it does not cover. It does not apply to the state’s mangrove protection rules.

The law passed in 2019. In 2022 the Legislature changed the standard from a tree that “presents a danger to persons or property” to the unacceptable risk test above, and added the definitions. Bills to repeal it were filed in 2023 and 2024; both died in committee. The 2026 statutes list no other changes.

This is general information, not legal advice. I am an arborist, not an attorney. Your city or county permit office can tell you how it handles these removals, and it costs nothing to ask.

Under the ISA method, an assessor rates a tree’s risk as low, moderate, high or extreme. The rating comes from three things: how likely a part of the tree is to fail, how likely it is to hit something if it does, and how bad that would be. The “something” is called the target, such as your roof, a driveway or a play area.

The statute asks a narrow question. It is not enough for a tree to be high risk. Removal has to be the only practical way to get that risk below moderate. If reduction pruning, a support system like cabling, or another option can bring the risk down, the tree does not qualify for this path. A sample report from the Florida chapter of ISA shows exactly that: a tree rated moderate, with pruning listed as a way to lower it to low.

The risk has to be a risk of failure. The statute ties the rating to the ISA method, and in that method the risk comes from a tree or part of a tree failing: a trunk or branch breaking, or the root system giving way, and that part hitting something. The ISA’s form instructions describe a target as people, property or activities that could be injured, damaged or disrupted by a tree failure. Roots lifting a driveway, sidewalk or pool deck, leaves in the gutters or the pool, and sap on a car are headaches, but none of them is a failure, and none of them makes a tree an unacceptable risk under this law.

We hear this a lot: the roots are cracking the driveway, so the tree should qualify for the letter. It does not, and we will not write one for that reason. Those trees can usually still come out through a regular removal permit if your city allows it. One thing that can change the picture: if roots were cut to repair a driveway, a sidewalk or a sewer line, the cuts themselves may make the tree more likely to fail, and that does belong in a risk assessment.

That is why I do not write this letter for every tree a client is worried about. If the assessment does not support it, we will tell you, and the permit path is still open. In my opinion, the letter has to hold up if the city or a court asks questions later. Our page on whether your tree is dangerous covers the warning signs worth a closer look.

The statute does not say TRAQ. It requires an ISA Certified Arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect, an onsite assessment, the 2017 ISA method, and a signature.

TRAQ, the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, is ISA’s voluntary training and exam in that same method. Holders retrain and retest every seven years. I hold it, along with ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, and so do Roy Carter, Matt Samnik and Carson Smith on our team. In my opinion, it is a fair question to ask whoever is signing your letter, since the law ties the letter to that method.

A permit works for almost any property and any reason your local code allows, but the city reviews it, may charge a fee, and may require replacement trees. The 163.045 path skips all of that, but only for a qualifying tree on a single-family home. Rules differ across Pinellas, so check yours first.

• Unincorporated Pinellas, including Palm Harbor and East Lake. Pinellas County says that on homesteaded, actively occupied single-family property, only trees larger than 24 inches in trunk diameter are protected. For a smaller tree there, you may not need a permit or a letter. Call the county before you pay for either.
• Clearwater. The city requires a permit to remove protected trees; see its tree removal application checklist. The city’s tree pages do not mention 163.045, so ask the city how it wants a qualifying removal documented.
• Dunedin. The city’s permit page does not mention 163.045 either. It lists the City Arborist at 727-298-3279.
• Tampa. Tampa’s city attorney memo is the most detailed local guidance I found. It says the city will require the documentation for each tree removed, that owners should give it to the city to avoid a notice of violation, and that the city will report arborists to ISA or state regulators when documentation is misused.

Check your lot’s tree minimum too. Every landscape code I know of in our area sets a minimum number of trees for a lot. Pinellas County, for example, recently capped the trees required on a large lot at 15. The statute says the city cannot make you replant a tree removed under 163.045, but in my opinion that does not erase the minimum in the code. If the removal drops your lot below it, the lot may technically be out of compliance, and that can come up later, for example with a building permit or another removal. I have not found a court decision on how those two rules fit together, so it is worth asking your city.

Even where a city cannot require notice, sending a copy of the letter before the work can head off a code complaint from a neighbor. Our tree removal permits page covers the regular permit rules city by city.

Our letter documents the tree’s risk based on an onsite assessment and is signed by the ISA certified arborist who did it. The assessment form itself stays in our records. A standalone letter includes photos of the tree.

• Starting at $300 for a standalone letter, covering the first tree.
• Typically $50 for each additional tree on the same letter.
• $50 per tree when we are also doing the removal and the tree clearly qualifies.

Whoever writes your letter, the assessment behind it should record, following the ISA form:

• The tree, where it stands and its size.
• The targets within reach if it fails, and how often they are there.
• The defects and site conditions found.
• The likelihood of failure, the likelihood of impact and the consequences.
• The risk rating, the mitigation options considered, and why removal is the only practical one.
• The assessor’s name, credential number, the date, and a signature.

A one-line letter that only says a tree poses an unacceptable risk, with none of that behind it, may not hold up if the city or a neighbor questions it.

If you have been quoted $600, you may be looking at a full written risk assessment report. Most of our Level 2 risk assessments start around $600, and the report is a different document: findings, a risk rating and mitigation options, often asked for by an HOA, an insurance carrier or a mortgage lender. Our tree risk assessment page explains that service. When removal is the answer, our tree removal page covers how we do the work.

We write these letters to the ISA standard, and that standard often puts a tree at low risk. That is not always the answer the homeowner was hoping for. When a tree is clearly above low risk and the risk cannot practically be brought down, it may qualify, and we can write the letter.

For trees on the border, around moderate risk and in fair to poor condition, I prefer to have an outside arborist write the letter. The ISA Code of Ethics asks arborists to use unbiased judgment and to disclose anything that could be seen as a conflict of interest. An arborist writing a borderline letter for a tree they are also paid to remove is in exactly that spot, and I would rather not put a client, or us, in that situation.

For those trees there is often a simpler road: the regular permit. In my experience, many city arborists will look at a declining tree, agree it is not above low risk but has problems that are not practical to correct, and approve the removal anyway. No letter has to be stretched to fit. Neighbors also tend to trust the city’s call more than a letter from a company the owner hired.

HOAs. The statute limits what a local government can require. Its text says nothing about homeowners associations, and I have not found a Florida law or court decision saying it overrides HOA approval. Plan on following your association’s rules too. Our letter can go to your architectural review committee, but the association makes its own decision. If there is a dispute, your association documents and a Florida attorney are the place to start.

Insurance. Some carriers ask for a tree to be assessed, trimmed or removed, and what they want varies by carrier and policy. A 163.045 letter answers one narrow legal question for the city. Your insurer may want something else, so ask the carrier what format it needs before you order anything.

The most common request we see is to cut back every branch over the roof. That can leave a healthy tree with large wounds and lopsided limbs that are more likely to fail, not less. When a carrier asks for it, we can write a letter explaining the tree, along with a proposal for prescription pruning that reduces the risk, keeps the tree healthy and follows ANSI A300 pruning standards. When homeowners have sent those two things to their insurance company, I have not had one insist on removing the tree, over pruning it, or cutting the limbs back so nothing hangs over the roof. That is our experience, not a promise; each carrier makes its own call. We suggest getting the carrier to approve the plan before any work starts, so you do not pay for pruning it will not accept. Our page on insurance and tree removal covers what policies usually pay for.

1. Confirm the property is a single-family detached home used as one.
2. Ask your city or county whether the tree needs a permit at all.
3. Get the signed letter before the work starts, not after. Tampa’s memo says the documentation has to exist at the time of removal.
4. Check your HOA’s rules and get its approval if it requires one.
5. Keep a copy of the letter with your property records.