The short answer
For a tree in the yard of your own single-family home in Murfreesboro, in our experience, no permit is required. The city's tree ordinance — Chapter 32.5 of the Code of Ordinances, "Tree Management," adopted in 1994 — regulates the planting, maintenance and removal of trees in public areas, meaning city-owned property and the street or highway right-of-way, plus trees the city has designated as landmark trees. It even says outright that a property owner may remove a tree they planted without a permit. Your back-yard hackberry is yours.
The exceptions that catch people
1. The tree is in the right-of-way
The strip between the sidewalk and the curb — or, where there's no sidewalk, roughly from the curb or ditch to your property line — is public right-of-way, and a tree standing in it is a public tree. Under Section 32.5-6 nobody but the city's Urban Environmental Department or its contractor may plant, prune, remove or otherwise disturb a public tree without a permit, applied for at least three working days ahead. Topping a public tree is flatly illegal. The city can remove a tree you planted in the right-of-way improperly and bill you, with a 20 percent handling charge and a lien if you don't pay.
2. The tree is a landmark tree
The city keeps a register of landmark trees — individual trees or groups notable for size, age, rarity or history. A tree on private land can only be enrolled with the owner's consent, but once it's enrolled it's protected under Section 32.5-7 whether it's on public or private property, and it can only be removed if the Urban Environmental Department agrees it's diseased, hazardous or substantially restricts use of the property. A storm-damaged landmark tree that's an immediate threat can be removed to the extent needed to eliminate the threat.
3. The tree was required by a landscape plan
Trees a developer planted to satisfy the zoning ordinance's landscaping requirements — the street trees, buffers and parking-lot islands on an approved subdivision or commercial site plan — are excluded from the "you planted it, you can remove it" rule. In practice this is mostly an HOA and commercial issue, but if you live in a newer subdivision and the tree in question is a street tree the builder put in, ask before you cut.
The nuisance rule
Section 32.5-8 lets the city declare a tree on private property a public nuisance if it's an imminent danger to the public or if it blocks the sidewalk (less than 7 feet of clearance) or the street (less than 15.5 feet) or hides a traffic sign or signal. You get written notice and at least 30 days to fix it — less if the danger is immediate — and if you don't, the city can do the work and put a lien on the property. A hackberry limb hanging over the sidewalk at head height is the classic case.
Utilities and 811
Trees within ten feet of Middle Tennessee Electric's primary lines are the utility's to clear — call MTE, not a tree company, for those. Anything within reach of your service drop is our problem to solve safely. And stump grinding counts as excavation under Tennessee's underground-utility law, so Tennessee One Call (811) has to mark the yard before a grinder starts. It's free, it takes two business days, and we call it in on every job.
Smyrna, La Vergne and the county
Smyrna and La Vergne have their own codes, and they work the same way in practice: trees on town property and in the right-of-way are the town's, trees on approved landscape plans are protected, and a homeowner's own yard tree is the homeowner's. Unincorporated Rutherford County — Christiana, Rockvale, Eagleville, Lascassas, Milton, Readyville — has no tree-removal permit for private property that we've ever been asked for. Trees on state highway right-of-way belong to TDOT.
HOAs
None of this is the HOA. Berkshire, Savannah Ridge, Puckett Station, Liberty Valley, Windsor Park, the Rock Springs subdivisions in Smyrna and most of the newer communities have architectural rules about removing and replacing trees, and the fines are real. We know what most of them want and we'll tell you before we cut.
Common questions
Who do I call to find out if my tree is in the right-of-way?
The property pins are the answer. Most Murfreesboro lots have a pin at the front corners; if the trunk is on the street side of the line between them, it's the city's. We check on the estimate visit. When it's genuinely unclear, the city's Urban Environmental Department can tell you.
Can I remove a tree the city planted in front of my house?
No — it's a public tree, and only the city or its contractor can remove it. You can request that the city look at it if it's dead or hazardous.
What's the penalty for cutting a public tree?
Chapter 32.5 violations are punished under the city's general penalty section, plus the cost of any corrective action — replacement trees, removal, cleanup — with a 20 percent administrative charge on top. Not worth it.
Do I need a permit to trim my own tree?
No. Pruning your own yard tree is yours to do or hire out. Pruning a public tree, including the one in the sidewalk strip, needs a permit.
Do you handle the permit when one is needed?
Yes — for the rare cases where a tree we're hired to work on turns out to be public, on a landscape plan or a landmark tree, we handle the application and the notice of completion.
Related: Tree removal · Commercial & HOA tree service · Stump grinding · Cost guide