I would strongly suggest you ignore the above advice as you could find yourself in a worse situation. What happens if you contact a builder and have minor repairs carried out only to find the movement returns in the future and then you find your insurers will not accept a claim? If you start dealing with a claim yourself be ware that this can cause problems later. I would also not approach the council as there is every likelihood that it is their tree that is causing the problem. Your insurers will have much more expertise in dealing with issues such as recovering money from the owner of an offending tree. Your insurers may also have a view on whether the council should just remove the tree in one hit; remember that tree removal can lead to heave which can be very bit as destructive as subsidence. If you approach the council you may find them being helpful to the point they prejudice your position with your insurers! If you suspect you have subsidence you should involve your insurers at an early stage. A number of insurers will appoint a specialist to look at the damage and provide advice. They will consider if the damage is actually subsidence and deal with issues such as a recovery of their outlay – if they are seeking to recover their outlay they will automatically seek to recover your excess. The idea that you can deal with this yourself and thereby avoid advising your insurers and having subsequent problems is muddled headed advice. The presence of subsidence is a material fact which you would need to report to your insurers when your policy falls due for renewal whether or not you had carried out a minor repair yourself or in conjunction with the council. You might then find that on declaring the incident your insurers refuse to continue cover and you would find they would be perfectly entitled to take this action. On the other had if you put a claim to your insurers you will find there is an agreement amongst insurers that they will continue to offer cover. Therefore by advising insurers your position would be more, not less secure.