Academy/Maintenance Fundamentals
Trees
When a mature tree becomes a maintenance item, not just landscaping
Mature trees near buildings, parking, and walkways are a structural and liability risk, not just landscaping. Industry practice calls for reassessing tree risk every one to three years, more often for higher-risk trees, and immediately after major storms or nearby construction. Confirmed by a certified arborist, not the landscaping crew.
Why a mature tree needs a maintenance program
A tree standing over a carport, a walkway, or a clubhouse patio is carrying weight, weather, and time, the same way a roof or a retaining wall does. A large dead limb over a parking spot, a trunk leaning further each year, or roots lifting a sidewalk slab are all failure signs that develop quietly and then fail suddenly. Treat trees near people or property as a maintenance component with its own inspection cycle, not a once-and-done landscaping decision.
How often to reassess risk
Industry practice for assessing risk on mature trees near buildings, parking, or walkways calls for reassessment roughly every one to three years, with higher-risk trees checked more often than low-risk ones. Two events should trigger an assessment outside that normal cycle: a major storm, and nearby construction that disturbs the root zone or changes drainage around the tree.
This one to three year figure describes common practice, not a fixed interval set by any single standards body. Confirm the right cycle for your trees with a certified arborist, and check whether your municipality has its own tree ordinance.
Who pays, and where this fits in your paperwork
Whether a given tree is the association's responsibility or an individual owner's depends on your CC&Rs: a tree in a common area is usually the association's job, a tree on an owner's lot usually is not. Check the governing documents before assuming either way.
Don't assume a tree is safe to ignore just because it doesn't show up in the reserve study. A reserve study only lists components that clear a specific funding test.
"The expense of maintaining a component must be the association's financial responsibility."
Source: National Reserve Study Standards, explained, Association Reserves, summarizing CAI
A tree that never appears as a reserve line item can still be a real, required maintenance obligation. Log every assessment the same way you'd log a roof or elevator inspection, with the date, who performed it, and what they found.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A mature tree near the pool was rated low risk 18 months ago. This month, contractors began excavating for a new retaining wall six feet from its trunk. What should the board do?
Two trees stand in the common area: one healthy oak with no visible defects, one leaning pine with a large dead limb over the walkway. Which should be reassessed more often?
The reserve study doesn't include a line item for tree risk assessments. Can the board skip having a tree risk program?
Sources
- Tree Risk Assessment: Process, Levels & Cost, TreeLaws.org, describing ISA Best Management Practices
- National Reserve Study Standards, explained, Association Reserves, summarizing CAI National Reserve Study Standards
Maintenance Fundamentals
Once a tree assessment turns up a problem, learn how to move it into a work order the board can actually track to completion.
How often a tree gets reassessed, who pays for the work, and whether a local tree protection ordinance applies all vary by your community's governing documents and municipality.