What Should Be in a Timber Sale Contract?

Never sell standing timber on a handshake. The North Carolina Forest Service says so on its Selling Your Timber page: "Never sell timber without a written timber sale agreement." University of Tennessee Extension puts it shorter: "Oral agreements do not hold up in court." Everything a landowner fears here, being underpaid, having the place torn up, trees cut across the line, a crew that starts and then vanishes for eight months, is either handled by the paper in front of you or it is not handled at all.

Signing is the last moment you have any say. Take the paper home. Nobody is entitled to your signature the day they show it to you.

The clauses below matter in every state. The law behind them does not read the same everywhere. Where this page quotes a statute, it is North Carolina's, used as a worked example, and your state's may say something different. What follows is general information about clauses, not legal advice.

Who is signing, and can they hand your job to somebody else?

Two names have to be right: yours and theirs.

Yours means every person who owns an interest in the timber. If the land came through an estate and four siblings are on the deed, four siblings sign, or one signs with written authority from the others. NC State Extension's guide to timber sale contracts (Colby Lambert and Mark Megalos, published April 15, 2019, revised April 25, 2019) puts identifying the actual timber owners first on its list.

Theirs means the legal name of the business, not the name on the truck door. Then the clause people miss: assignment. The North Carolina Forest Service lists "Assignment of Contract" in its Timber Sale Contract Considerations sheet, FM #3 (July 2012). Assignment decides whether the outfit you shook hands with can hand your job to a crew you have never met. Want the right to approve a transfer? Write it down before you sign.

Know what you cannot check, too. North Carolina does not license loggers, so there is no license number to ask for there. Ask your state forestry agency what applies in yours (the National Association of State Foresters names each one at stateforesters.org). What rules loggers have to follow in North Carolina shows one state's answer, and how not to get ripped off by a timber buyer covers what you can check on the buyer anywhere.

When does the contract end, and what if they are not finished?

An open-ended contract is a standing claim on your land.

NC State's list puts length of contract second: start and termination dates, whether extensions are allowed, what triggers a weather shutdown, and how notice gets given. NC State's planning guide for landowners (Robert Bardon, published June 2, 2015, revised March 25, 2025) says harvest duration limits are commonly "not more than two years." Clemson Extension (May 2020) calls twelve to twenty-four months typical. Mississippi State says "in the South, 1–3 years is the normal harvest period allowed."

Ask for a hard end date in writing, and for what happens on that date. Does the right to cut expire? Who decides when the ground is too wet to work? A wet winter on low ground can shut a job down for weeks, and a contract silent on that turns into an argument you will have in the mud.

What timber, exactly?

This is where the money is won or lost.

NC State's list calls for a formal legal description, a tract location map with the boundaries marked, and tree type and size specifications. That means one of these gets spelled out:

• Every tree inside a described and marked boundary, or
• Only trees marked with paint, with the color named and the mark described, or
• Only trees above a stated diameter at breast height.

Paint marks usually go in two places, and Mississippi State Extension says why: "High marks are for logging operators while low marks are to ensure that only intended trees are removed." The low mark sits below stump height, so the stumps can be checked afterward.

Get boundaries walked and flagged before signing, not after the equipment arrives. If you are not certain where your lines run, that is a survey question, and a survey is cheaper than a lawsuit. How to find your property lines covers it. Nothing here helps you if the corner your grandfather pointed at is not the corner on the plat.

How and when do I get paid?

A timber sale takes one of two shapes, and the contract has to say which one you are in. A lump sum sale is one negotiated price for all the timber in the sale area, paid before cutting starts. A pay-as-cut sale, also called a per-unit sale, pays a price per ton, cord or thousand board feet as the wood moves. How to sell timber on your land works through which one suits a tract.

What the contract has to nail down:

• On a lump sum: the total, the date it is paid, and what happens if the buyer never cuts.
• On a pay-as-cut: a stated price for every product class, plus who sends you copies of the scale tickets and how often. Clemson says per-unit payments come "typically on a weekly basis, unless other terms are stipulated." NC State's planning guide notes that a pay-as-cut seller carries the risk of "timber destruction, damage caused by acts of nature, and theft" until payment.

Some state law may bear on that choice. North Carolina's G.S. 14-135.1 requires a buyer to furnish wood load tickets within 30 days of the completion of the harvest where payment is figured by weight, cord or board feet, and it does not apply to bulk or lump sum sales. There, take a lump sum and you give up the load ticket right. Whether your state has a similar law is a question for your state forestry agency or an attorney. Without one, your contract is your only right to tickets. Load tickets and what left your land has the rest.

Either way, put the ticket schedule in the contract.

Performance bond and insurance: what each one does

A performance bond or security payment is money the buyer puts up that you can claim against if they walk away. NC State's publication gives the purpose: "bonding or security payments ensure contract provisions are satisfied and that soil, water, and other resources are protected." Tennessee's guide says the contract should include "details of the performance bond which outlines consequences in case contract specifications are not performed as written." None of the sources behind this page publishes a standard bond amount. If a page hands you a customary figure, ask where that number came from.

Liability and worker's compensation insurance answers who pays if somebody gets hurt on your property. NC State: "it is prudent for the seller to ensure that liability for logging operations rest solely with the buyer/loggers. Responsibility for liability and worker's compensation insurance also rests with the buyer and logger."

Ask for a current certificate of insurance naming you, sent by the agent rather than handed over by the buyer. Nobody legitimate is offended by that.

What happens if they cut over the line?

Timber trespass laws are written state by state, and the National Agricultural Law Center's review of them shows they differ in the conduct they cover and the damages they allow. North Carolina's is a useful example. G.S. 1-539.1(a) makes anyone who enters your land without permission and cuts or removes timber "liable to the owner of said land for triple the value" of what was taken. Someone cut timber on my land without permission works through what that takes to prove.

One clause of it bears on how you mark. Under subsection (c), a contractor who cuts over the line "as a result of a misrepresentation of property lines by the party letting the contract" can recover from the party who let the contract. In North Carolina, flag your own boundary wrong and that points back at you. Ask an attorney whether your state's law works the same way.

A statute is your backstop, not your first line. NC State still lists removal of trees outside the sale area as a contract item: "penalties need to be clearly specified in the contract. Timber trespass, while usually not intentional, occurs occasionally and needs to be addressed in the contract." A contract penalty works without a lawyer proving value in court.

Roads, ruts, gates, and who fixes them

The harvest ends and you are left with whatever the last truck left behind.

NC State's language here is worth quoting to a buyer word for word: "roads should be kept maintained during the logging and restored to their former condition at the buyer's expense upon the completion of the operation." Their list also calls for a harvest map showing boundaries, landings, stream crossings and sensitive areas, a "Right to Halt Logging" provision, and 24 to 48 hours of notice when the operation begins and ends.

Write down the specifics only you know:

• Which gate stays locked and who has the key.
• Where the landing goes and what condition it comes back in.
• Which culverts, cattle guards or bridges exist and who repairs them.
• Fences, water lines, the family cemetery, the spring the cattle drink out of.
• Whether tops and limbs get pulled off the landing or left in a pile.

None of that is standard language. All of it is standard regret.

Should I record the contract at the courthouse?

None of the sources behind this page say recording is required.

NC State's publication recommends it: "landowners should always use a solid written contract or timber deed when selling timber, and as an added precaution it should be recorded at a courthouse." The North Carolina Forest Service lists "Recording of Contract/Deed" as a consideration in FM #3.

The law here comes from the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been adopted in some form by every state. North Carolina's version of the relevant section is G.S. 25-2-107. Its subsection (c), like subsection (3) of the model code, says such a contract may be executed and recorded as a document transferring an interest in land, and that recording "shall then constitute notice to third parties of the buyer's rights." Read that again: the buyer's rights. How your state's version reads, and whether recording helps you, is a question for an attorney who does real property work in your county. Ask. Do not assume.

Attorney or consulting forester? You may want both

They do different jobs and neither substitutes for the other.

The consulting forester handles the technical half: how much timber is there, which trees are in the sale, how volume gets measured, where the landing and stream crossings go, what the best management practices require, how bids get compared. Fees are worked through in whether you need a forestry consultant. The North Carolina Forest Service refers many projects to consultants, but per FM #2 (July 2012) will not name or recommend an individual firm. TimberClear lists timber businesses and routes introductions. We have not checked, verified or endorsed anybody on this site, so ask for references and call them.

The attorney handles the legal half: who is bound, whether the job can be assigned, warranty of title, indemnity, insurance, remedies, arbitration, and whether to record. The North Carolina Forest Service is direct in FM #3: "the contract should be prepared or have been approved by an attorney." Tennessee's guide says "contacting an attorney may be necessary in formulating a contract."

One question is worth a lawyer's hour, and North Carolina shows why. G.S. 22-2, its statute of frauds, covers contracts to sell land or "any interest in or concerning" land, and does not mention timber by name. G.S. 25-2-107(b) treats a contract for timber to be cut as a sale of goods under the UCC, as subsection (2) of the model code does. Which one governs, and what that means for the writing requirement, is a question this page cannot settle for any state. Get it in writing regardless, and ask an attorney.

If you are selling timber directly to a mill, expect the buyer's own contract. NC State's planning guide notes that "most timber buyers prefer a timber deed prepared by their legal department." It was written to protect them. Not evidence of bad faith. A reason to have somebody on your side read it.

Put a sample agreement beside your contract

1. Download two documents from the North Carolina Forest Service's Selling Your Timber page: the Sample Timber Sale Agreement for Private Landowners (revised 4/2011) and Timber Sale Contract Considerations, FM #3 (July 2012). They work as a checklist wherever your land is. Ask your own state forestry agency whether it publishes one too.
2. Lay the sample beside whatever contract you have been handed. Mark every item in it that your contract does not answer.
3. Call an attorney licensed in your state who handles real property. Send both documents plus your list of gaps, and ask what a review costs before you send it.

A buyer who will not wait for that has told you something. The North Carolina Forest Service recommends taking at least three bids on a clearly defined boundary of timber, and your trees will still be standing next month.