Land clearing or vegetation removal? The practical and legal difference

"I want to clear a plot of land" — that's how almost every conversation starts. But legally and practically, one thing matters above all: is the land registered forest or not?

Non-forest land with vegetation: a pasture overrun by shrubs, an abandoned orchard, an urban plot with self-seeded trees, farmland left fallow. Here we are talking about vegetation clearing — work you can generally do as the owner without forestry permits. Cut the vegetation, pull the stumps, grind the roots, level the ground — and the land is ready for construction or agriculture. For isolated trees on urban land, some town halls require a felling approval — a quick trip to the town hall will clear it up.

Forest land: if the plot is registered as forest (the national forest fund), the rules change radically. Removing land from the forest fund is an exceptional procedure — long, costly and with compensations — and cutting without it is a criminal offence, owner or not. There are no shortcuts here: any intervention goes through the forest district office and the management plan.

How to find out where you stand: check the land registry extract under land use (forest / pasture / arable / residential). If in doubt, ask the forest district office for the area — free and fast.

What professional land clearing involves: cutting and chipping the vegetation, removing stumps (pulling or grinding — grinding shreds the stump below ground level, with no craters), collecting and making use of the timber, and final levelling. With dedicated machinery, a house plot is cleared in days, not weeks.

We do land clearing on non-forest land with no minimum area — from a yard with a few trees to whole hectares — and if your land turns out to be registered forest, we tell you straight and point you to the correct procedure, not to a job that lands you in trouble.