A Dunedin mother has been told she must tear down her sons' tree-house.

Mother of three Janice Norman-Oke says the Dunedin City Council told her the tree-house, built by her father, violates the building code and will have to go.

She says she doesn't have the means to comply with their instructions.

Norman-Oke says her father is the only one who can take it down, and he recently had surgery on his spine.

She says the council worker paid her a visit and said it would most likely have to be removed, but told her that without seeing it.

"If that is the standpoint for all councils, then pretty much every treehouse out there will have to be removed."

The council's told her that because the treehouse's safety rail was more than three metres off the ground, it was classed as a deck rather than play equipment.