Local Council are normally responsible for maintaining the trees, roads, alleyways and building permits.

The question arises, who do I sue if I suffer financial loss or property damage due to Local Council negligence e.g. a council owned tree fell on my roof, or if my house was flooded due to poor maintenance of a lane way out the back of my property? The property damage that can arise from such situations can be in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In these cases, a home or business owner may have recourse to local council for the cost of repairing the damage. However the process is not that straightforward.

Local Council is not a wealthy government organisation, so the funding it receives to maintain the areas it is responsible can be minimal. When this is the case the Local Council may cry poor and try to get citizens to make claims on their insurance policies or deny liability because no positive action of negligence was performed.

However, it is within the rights of citizens to appeal to council for compensation, and if they are unwilling to co-operate, there is a legal recourse to sue local council through the courts system.

So in summary - YES, citizens do have rights to sue local council for negligence.

Sources:
[url] https://lawarren.com.au/litigation-practice-areas/suing-local-council/[/url]