A Dunedin mother is being made to 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.

Council told her because the tree-house's safety rail was more than three metres off the ground, it was classed as a deck rather than play equipment.