Tree rules in Montreal: permits, protected trees and fees
What Montreal's pages say about felling a tree on private land: the permit each of the 19 boroughs requires, the trunk size that triggers it, the fee in CA$, the ash tree rule and who handles public trees.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It restates three pages on montreal.ca, written in French, as read on October 8, 2026: the felling permit page for private land, the ash tree felling permit page and the article on public trees. The page says the permit is also called a certificate of authorisation, and that the rules differ by borough, so each borough has its own section. The wider list of cities is on the guide to tree permits in Canadian cities.
What applies on private land
The felling page opens by saying a felling permit is needed in Montreal and that it covers every tree except ash, which has its own page. The borough sections list reasons for which felling may be allowed, such as a dead tree, an irreversibly declining tree, serious damage to property or a danger to public safety. They also list reasons that never qualify: a tree that drops flowers, leaves, sap or twigs, produces pollen, shelters animals or insects, casts shade or shows roots at the surface. Most sections say a tree on the public strip between the curb or sidewalk and the property line cannot be pruned or felled by the owner. To work out the trunk diameter, the page says to measure around the trunk in centimetres and divide by 3.14.
Borough by borough
The table gives each borough's trigger and fee as its section prints them. Fees are in Canadian dollars. Some sections list further conditions, such as pruning and root cuts, that the table leaves out.
| Borough | Felling trigger on its page | Fee on its page |
|---|---|---|
| Ahuntsic-Cartierville | Trunk of 10 cm or more at 1.3 m, or 15 cm or more at 15 cm above ground; also cutting 40 percent or more of the branches or roots | CA$136 per application and lot, taxes included; free for an ash |
| Anjou | Trunk of at least 5 cm at 1.4 m, or 15 cm or more near the ground; also cutting 50 percent or more of the branches | CA$75 for a front yard tree, CA$150 for a rear yard tree |
| Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.4 m | CA$175 per application, no tax |
| Lachine | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m, except cedar (Thuja), juniper and buckthorn, which the page says can be felled without a permit at any diameter | CA$25 analysis per lot, then CA$50 for 1 to 5 trees, CA$500 for 6 to 25, CA$750 for 26 to 49 and CA$1,000 per block of 50 for 50 or more |
| LaSalle | A permit for each tree, in the front, side or rear yard; the page gives no diameter | CA$150 per tree, no tax |
| Le Plateau-Mont-Royal | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$150 per application |
| Le Sud-Ouest | Trunk of more than 8 cm at 1.3 m, or more than 10 cm at 15 cm; also cutting 50 percent or more of the branches | CA$152 per tree |
| L'Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m, or 15 cm at 15 cm | CA$178.50 per tree, non-refundable |
| Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve | Trunk of at least 5 cm at 1.3 m; also cutting 50 percent or more of the branches | CA$124.20 per application |
| Montréal-Nord | Trunk of more than 5 cm at 15 cm above ground | CA$108.00 per tree, taxes included |
| Outremont | Trunk of more than 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$177.80 per tree |
| Pierrefonds-Roxboro | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$70 per application |
| Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$58 per property, no tax |
| Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$162 per tree, no tax |
| Saint-Laurent | Certificate for a trunk of more than 5 cm at 1.3 m; for houses in zones h1 to h3 the page says cutting a tree of 3 cm or more is prohibited | CA$154 per tree; free for a dead or irreversibly declining tree and for some expert-recommended cases |
| Saint-Léonard | Trunk of more than 10 cm at chest height, or 15 cm at stump height | CA$158 per tree, taxes included |
| Verdun | Diameter above 10 cm at 1.30 m, or above 15 cm at 15 cm | CA$268 per tree, taxes included |
| Ville-Marie | Trunk of at least 10 cm at 1.3 m | CA$85 per application |
| Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension | Trunk of 8 cm or more at 1.3 m; also removing 50 percent or more of the living crown or cutting 40 percent or more of the roots | CA$64 per tree for residential use, CA$190 per tree for commercial, industrial and institutional use |
Replacement and timing
Replacement rules vary too. Ahuntsic-Cartierville requires a replacement tree within 12 months of the certificate date and asks for a single-trunk broadleaf of at least 3 cm diameter and 2 m height, or a conifer of at least 1 m, with at least two species when more than 4 trees are replaced. Anjou and Lachine give 6 months. Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce requires at least one tree per 100 square metres of unbuilt residential land and one per 200 square metres for commercial or institutional land. Le Sud-Ouest says to keep at least one tree per 50 square metres of unbuilt land. In boroughs that set a validity period, it runs from 3 months to 12 months, and Le Plateau-Mont-Royal says staff will contact the applicant within 14 days.
Ash trees and public trees
The ash page says a permit is needed to fell an ash tree with a diameter of 10 cm or more at 1.4 m, and that there is no analysis fee. If the inspection finds the tree is not an ash, or that a tree of another species must also come down, the analysis fee for the general permit is charged. It lists the reasons that qualify, among them a dead tree, a danger to people and a tree that is the subject of a felling notice from the City. It gives the certificate 365 days. The public trees article says only municipal staff may prune, fell or replant public trees, even near a private lot, and that a felled public tree is replaced, which takes 6 to 18 months. It asks people to call 311 about a sick or hazardous public tree.