Neighbour's tree or structure shading your solar panels in Perth: your options

Perth has no legal right to sunlight for solar panels. If a neighbour's tree grows tall enough to shade your roof, or they build a second storey that blocks your morning sun, you can't simply demand it stop. There's no automatic remedy, and no single call that fixes it.

That doesn't mean you're stuck. Direct negotiation resolves most of these disputes long before anyone mentions a tribunal. For new construction, WA's planning rules actually do give existing solar owners some real protection, worth knowing before you write off a planning objection as pointless. And if you do need to make a formal case, whether to your neighbour, a mediator, or a lawyer, quantifying the financial loss in dollars is what turns a vague complaint into something someone has to take seriously.

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Does Perth have a legal right to sunlight for solar panels?

No. Some places overseas, and a handful of Australian jurisdictions, have solar access laws that protect a homeowner's sunlight once panels go in. WA has no such legislation as of mid-2026.

Practically, that means:

• A neighbour can plant a tree that eventually shades your panels, and you have no automatic legal right to have it removed.
• A neighbour can build a second storey or extension that shadows your system, provided they comply with planning requirements.
• Your solar installation, even if it's been there for years, does not give you priority over a neighbour's future development rights.

If you're weighing up solar on a block where neighbouring properties could still develop, check the zoning and likely height limits next door first. A north-facing roof that's clear today can be half-shaded in five years by a two-storey extension, and there's little you can do about it after the fact.

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Can I make a neighbour trim or remove a tree that's shading my panels?

WA doesn't have a dedicated tribunal process for solar shading disputes over a tree, the way it does for some other neighbour issues. Your realistic options are narrower than for new construction:

Talk to your neighbour first. Most tree disputes resolve here. Bring the numbers: how much generation you've lost and what that's costing you (see the calculation below). A specific dollar figure is a much stronger opener than "your tree is blocking my panels."

Use mediation if a direct conversation stalls. A mediation service, through your local council or a private mediator, costs far less than legal action and is much more likely to leave you on speaking terms with your neighbour afterwards. Most disputes that do get resolved formally are resolved here, not in a tribunal.

Get legal advice if the tree is causing real property damage: root damage to a fence or foundation, branches over a roof, that kind of thing, rather than simply blocking sunlight. Damage claims sit on firmer legal ground than a pure loss-of-sunlight claim, and a property lawyer can tell you whether you have a case.

Quantifying the impact matters here even outside a formal process. "I'm losing roughly $400 a year in generation" lands very differently to a neighbour than "your tree is annoying."

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What can I do if a neighbour's new building will shade my panels?

This is where WA actually offers more protection than most people realise.

WA's planning rules do cover solar access, if your block qualifies. The Residential Design Codes, through State Planning Policy 7.3, include an overshadowing provision specifically for existing solar collectors: on lower-density sites (R40 or below), a neighbour's new building generally has to leave your panels with around 4 hours of sun on 21 June, the shortest day of the year and the hardest test for any shadow. How much shadow a new structure is allowed to cast scales with the site's density coding, tightening at the lower end. If your block falls under this density range and your panels were installed before the new development, a solar-access objection isn't just a courtesy councils note and move past, it's a real planning requirement.

Object to the planning application, with specifics. Speak to your local council when the development application is advertised. Councils are required to notify adjacent landowners of some applications, so watch for that notice. Cite the overshadowing provision directly if your site qualifies, and back it with a shading report (below) rather than a general complaint about losing sunlight.

Raise it early if you can. If you know a neighbour is planning a development, raising solar shading before they lodge their application is far more likely to result in a design tweak, a slightly lower wall, a shifted roofline, than objecting after approval. A neighbour who adjusts their design to protect your system is doing you a genuine favour, and it costs them less to fix it on paper than after the slab is poured.

Negotiate compensation as a last resort. If a new development will demonstrably cut your solar generation, you may be able to negotiate compensation as part of any cooperation they need from you, access across your land for scaffolding, for instance. This is informal and depends heavily on your negotiating position.

For a broader look at how orientation and roof direction affect what you generate in the first place, see our guide to how roof orientation affects solar output in Perth.

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How do I calculate the financial cost of shading?

Mediation, a planning objection, and a plain conversation with your neighbour all go better with a real number instead of a feeling. Here's how to build one:

1. Set a pre-shading baseline. Pull your inverter monitoring data from before the shading started. Average the 12 months prior to get your baseline generation.
2. Compare post-shading generation. Look at the same months after the shading began, ideally a full year so you're comparing like seasons.
3. Calculate the annual loss, split by what the lost generation would have done. Lost generation you'd have used yourself is worth the Synergy A1 import rate (33.26c/kWh), since that's what you'd otherwise have paid to buy it back. Lost generation you'd have exported is worth your export rate instead (DEBS or your legacy feed-in tariff, whichever applies, and note DEBS pays different rates at different times of day). Pricing every lost kWh at the import rate overstates the damage: most homes self-consume only part of their solar and export the rest at a lower rate. Extend the split annual figure over a 10-year horizon for the full damage basis.
4. Get a shading report. An SAA-accredited installer or solar assessor can model the exact shadow at every hour of the year using tools like Solarfox, Aurora, or PVsyst. This is the most defensible evidence you can bring to a mediator, a planning objection, or a lawyer.

If you're not sure whether the shading you're dealing with is even significant enough to act on, our guide on assessing shading risk before it costs you generation walks through how installers judge that.

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How can I protect my solar access before I install?

Some of this is easier to fix before you sign a contract than after.

Think ahead on panel placement. If your north-facing roof is partly shaded by a neighbour's tree today, ask whether that tree is likely to keep growing. Talk to your installer about microinverters or DC optimisers, which limit how much a single shaded panel drags down the rest of the string. Our guide to shading solutions like microinverters and optimisers covers when the extra cost is worth it and when it isn't.

Consider a private easement, if both sides agree. In some cases, a solar access easement can be registered on a neighbour's title, legally restricting building or planting within a defined height envelope. It's rare in residential Perth, but it's legally available under the Transfer of Land Act 1893 with both parties' consent. A property lawyer can draft and register the instrument.

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Perth has no right-to-solar-access law, and there's no shortcut around that. For a tree, your best options are a direct conversation and mediation, backed by a real dollar figure. For new construction, WA's planning code gives existing solar owners a genuine, if narrow, overshadowing protection on lower-density blocks, so a well-timed objection can carry real weight. Either way, the conversation you have before the tree grows or the slab gets poured is worth far more than the one you have after.