10/50 Rule on the Northern Beaches: 2026 Clearing Guide

The Short Answer

If your Northern Beaches property is mapped in a 10/50 vegetation clearing entitlement area, the NSW 10/50 rule lets you remove trees within 10 metres of your home, and clear other vegetation (but not trees) within 50 metres, without a Council permit. It only applies if the NSW Rural Fire Service online tool confirms your lot is eligible on the day you clear, and the work follows the 10/50 Code of Practice. Many waterfront, heritage, steep and environmentally mapped properties are excluded or restricted, so check before anything is cut.

What the 10/50 Rule Allows

The 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Scheme started in 2014, after the 2013 NSW bush fires, to help people living near the bush prepare their homes. Within a designated entitlement area, a landowner may, on their own land:

• Remove, destroy (other than by fire) or prune any vegetation, including trees, within 10 metres of an external wall of a qualifying building
• Remove, destroy (other than by fire) or prune any vegetation except trees within 50 metres of that wall

Qualifying buildings are mainly homes and other buildings with lawfully approved habitable rooms, plus certain high-risk facilities such as schools, hospitals and childcare centres, and farm sheds.

The Code is not an approval. It means a person is not guilty of an offence for clearing carried out in accordance with the Code, so clearing outside the Code can still be an offence under other laws. The scheme also does not require anyone to clear.

The 10/50 rule at a glance (not to scale)

11. Within 10 metres of the home's external walls, including attached decks and verandahs: trees and other vegetation may be removed or pruned, if the RFS tool confirms your lot is eligible on the day.

22. From 10 to 50 metres: shrubs and other vegetation may be cleared, but not trees. Branches within 10 metres of the home may still be pruned to AS 4373.

33. A tree whose trunk is more than 10 metres from the home cannot be removed under the 10/50 rule, even if it stands within 50 metres.

Step One: Check the RFS Online Tool

Eligibility is confirmed only through the RFS 10/50 online tool. Enter your address, check the marker sits on your block, and select Get Results. The RFS says:

• Check on the day you clear. The entitlement area, excluded matters or other rules can change, and you must follow the rules in place when you clear.
• Check every lot. If your property has more than one lot, check each one. The entitlement can differ between adjoining lots.
• Keep a copy of the result as evidence that the rules applied on the day.

The result will say your lot is not in an entitlement area, is in one, or is in one but may be excluded or restricted. Read any restrictions carefully. In some cases the onus is on the landowner to show a mapped protection does not actually apply.

If your lot is not eligible, Council's tree permit rules apply instead.

What Counts as a Tree and Where You Measure From

Under the Code, a tree is a woody perennial plant 3 metres or taller with at least one trunk measuring more than 30 centimetres in circumference at 1.3 metres above the ground. Shrubs and vines are not trees; multi-stemmed trees are.

You may only remove a tree if part of its trunk, measured at 1.3 metres above the ground, is within 10 metres of the external wall. A large canopy reaching over the house does not bring a trunk 14 metres away within the rule.

The RFS measures from the external walls, including permanent structures attached to the building such as decks, verandahs, pergolas and garages. Detached garages, sheds, water tanks and paved areas do not count, and neither do decks built as exempt development. The building must be lawfully approved with habitable rooms and lawfully occupied; the RFS says an interim occupation certificate is not enough.

What the 10/50 Code Does Not Allow

The 10/50 Code of Practice and RFS guidance set out exclusions and conditions. Those most relevant to the Northern Beaches are:

Excluded land. No clearing on lots wholly or partly mapped in the tool as, among other things:

• Within 100 metres of the coastline or an estuary of NSW
• Coastal wetlands, littoral rainforest or other mapped wetlands
• National park or other land reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974
• State heritage, or local heritage listed in a council LEP. If only part of a lot is heritage listed, the whole lot is excluded
• An Aboriginal Place, mapped critical habitat or critically endangered plants

Mangroves, saltmarsh and Aboriginal scarred trees cannot be cleared either. Mangroves and saltmarsh are not mapped in the tool, so you need to identify them yourself.

Waterways. No clearing within 10 metres of a lake, lagoon, wetland or a river 2 metres or more wide, measured from the highest bank.

Slopes. On slopes over 18 degrees, trees cannot be removed except in line with a geotechnical engineer's assessment report, and pruning must keep at least 75 per cent of the original canopy.

Soil. No soil disturbance, no removal of vegetation below the soil surface, topsoil and ground cover kept in place, and no graders, ploughs, bulldozers or similar machinery. If you want stump grinding after a 10/50 removal, check with Council or the RFS first, as the Code does not cover work below the soil surface.

Other legal obligations. No clearing contrary to development consent conditions, section 88B restrictions on title, court orders, or conservation agreements.

Other limits. The Code does not authorise burning, does not cover clearing around powerlines (that is for your network provider, such as Ausgrid), and is not an approval under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. Dumping cleared vegetation is illegal.

Northern Beaches Situations to Watch

• Waterfront and near-waterfront blocks. With ocean beaches, Pittwater, Middle Harbour and the lagoons, many properties sit near coastline, estuaries or waterways. The tool shows whether the 100-metre exclusion applies; the 10-metre waterway buffer still needs checking on site.
• Steep blocks. Escarpment and plateau properties can exceed 18 degrees. If you are unsure, the RFS suggests professional advice such as a surveyor. Our Bilgola Plateau project shows how much planning a steep-site removal can involve.
• Newer homes. Trees a development consent requires you to keep cannot be cleared under 10/50, and Council notes that DA conditions can prevent use of the entitlement.
• Wildlife. The Code does not override laws protecting native animals. The RFS recommends checking hollows, nests and tree-dwelling animals such as possums before clearing.
• Strata and rentals. Only the landowner, or someone with their written consent, may clear. For a strata scheme, the owners corporation is the landowner.

Pruning Under the 10/50 Rule

You may prune any vegetation within 10 metres of the building, and any vegetation other than trees within 50 metres. If a tree's trunk is more than 10 metres away, you may still prune its branches within 10 metres.

All tree pruning must follow AS 4373 Pruning of amenity trees. The Code says that if meeting AS 4373 would need pruning beyond 10 metres from the building, that pruning is not covered, and the RFS suggests confirming with Council whether approval is needed before any cuts are made. Our tree pruning service follows AS 4373.

Neighbours and the 10/50 Rule

• You can only clear your own land, even if a neighbour's vegetation is within 10 or 50 metres of your home.
• Relying on a neighbour's house. If there is no qualifying building on your land, you need written consent from each neighbouring owner whose building you rely on.
• Overhanging branches. You may prune a neighbour's branches overhanging your land within 10 metres of your building. If balancing the tree needs cuts on their side, you need their consent, and they must also be eligible or have other approval.
• Boundary trees. If a trunk sits across two or more properties, all landowners must approve its removal.

See our guide to neighbours' overhanging trees for the wider rules.

How 10/50 Fits With Council's Tree Rules

Northern Beaches Council lists 10/50 clearing among its permit exemptions, and the RFS says clearing in accordance with the Code can go ahead even where a Tree Preservation Order would otherwise protect the tree, without notifying Council.

Council's rules still apply to everything the Code does not cover: a tree 12 metres from the house, a lot excluded in the tool, or work that does not follow the Code. If you are outside the entitlement area or excluded from it, the RFS directs you to Council for approval options.

A Practical Checklist Before You Clear

1. Run the RFS tool for every lot on the day, save the result and read any restrictions.
2. Confirm the building is lawfully approved and occupied with habitable rooms.
3. Measure from the external wall to the trunk at 1.3 metres above ground.
4. Check for waterways within 10 metres, slopes over 18 degrees, heritage listings and DA conditions.
5. Check for wildlife and hollows.
6. Get written consent from the landowner or neighbours where needed.
7. Plan pruning to AS 4373, avoid disturbing the soil and arrange lawful green waste disposal.
8. If anything is unclear, email the RFS at 10.50@rfs.nsw.gov.au or call Council on 1300 434 434 before work starts.

How We Can Help

Once you have confirmed eligibility, we can inspect the trees and vegetation on a free on-site assessment, explain the practical options, and give you a written quote for tree removal, pruning or land clearing. Send your RFS tool result with the quote request so the scope matches what the Code allows. Eligibility checks stay with you as the landowner; we do not deal with Council or the RFS on your behalf.

Our team members include AQF Level 3 and AQF Level 5 qualified arborists, and we are insured. There is no travel surcharge anywhere in our 47-suburb Northern Beaches service area. If a storm has already brought a tree down, call us any time for emergency tree help.