Our neighbour has fenced us in with a sturdy fence. He built a fence across the entrance to our home and garage.
I do not know why he blocked us in because we have always been kind and friendly to him, and we even shared things with him. I gave him a 12v-230v converter for power cuts, and fixed his son up with a modern computer, plus a few extra toys such as external 120G hard disk. The neighbour and his wife own a plot of land about 1200 square metres. He also owns a 5m wide x 38m long access road between two neighbours, of which I am one.
An agreement was made 40 years ago that electricity, water and sewage could be laid under our land and his land be used as a road. A written agreement was drawn up giving us the right to access. On this premise building permission was given for our house with garage acces. The neighbours have now decided that they do not want us to use their road, so they have systematically barricaded us in. Last Christmas he built a 1.5m (5') pile of snow during the whole winter.
In June he built a fence on our land, which was cemented deep into the ground to prevent any possible access to our garage area.
The Swedish Ordinace & Survey (Lantmäteriet) define property boundaries with cemented-in posts. The neighbour dug our boundary post up and threw it into our land. He then erected the fence on a line across our land towards the relocated post, thus stealing 40 square meters of our land.
At the time he started digging I rushed out to save my handicapped wife's car but the trailer was still trapped in there with no means of getting the registered vehicle out. It remained in there for six months. The law moves slowly but the land authorities pointed out that this was yet another crime on the list and sooner or later he will have to pay. Christmas 2011 he invited me to take the trailer out. The neighbour may be stupid, but he sometimes suprises me with his generosity! (sarcasm)
Every year I plough snow from about 200 metres of road for three other neighbours. The neighbour and I are the only ones with snowploughs. A year ago I was commanded by the neighbour, through his father, to finish work a couple of hours early so I could come home and plough all the snow off the neighbours road so he could just drive into his home. I refused. I think my job is a bit more important:
The neighbour is somewhat eccentric about his road. When it snows he is out there, during the snowstorm, slating, brushing, cleaning, starting again. One day he was banging on the other neighbours door to get him out to help - DURING THE STORM. He does not wait until the snow stops.
Not many years ago we paid four thousand crowns as our share towards resurfacing the road with new asphalt, but in return we have received nothing. Just misery. 2011 he came round with the hat for money towards resurfacing the road again. I said I want legal right to use the road and will pay if I get it. "You don't need a document, you have my word", he said. So much for his word. Today his road is breaking up due to no foundation and water swelling the soil under it during the spring (and summer) floods. We will not pay again. We have been cheated once, we are not idiots.
One small point here is that the neighbour has blocked off our home entrance in spite of a 40-year old agreement and an "inherited" right. The local planning laws prevent him from erecting a fence without neighbours approval (we did not - we were not asked). The fence cannot be erected within 1.5 metres of the border - he has built it ON the border. If a foundation is laid then he needs planning permission - this he has not got. The council told us that his fence is perfectly legal, even though it is agains the local laws. I wished I worked for the local council ;-).
One other small point is that the neighbour deliberately intended to trespass on our land and build his fence by taking a piece of our property. When he marked the ground he dug the foundation on both sides, predominanly on our land. He has also been on our land digging the council-owned drains, for which he has NOT got permission from either us or the council.
According to his solicitor he did not recognise a boundary post so he is not guilty of knowingly digging it up. His solicitor also stated (in the same statement to the court) that he erected the fence towards the land boundary post after a search for it (he knows what it looked like and found it).
We reported him to the O&S legal department and proceedings were underway to make a decision for enforced access. During these proceedings he is not allowed to block our entrance. He has done so in spite of the laws. O&S decided to do nothing, other than charge us over 80,000 crowns (US$14,000) for the previledge of proving he had built his fence on our land. We have hired a solicitor but we do not have the money to pursue this matter. Our home value has been reduced by over SEK 650,000 (US$100,000).
The neighbour has been reported to the police but the police have done nothing. The council did nothing. The blockade of our garage and property entrance is becoming established and our neighbour has got away with erecting his fence on our land. We cannot rip it down or we are breaking the law and then the police will react!
Late in the summer we will be taking the neighbour to the Swedish court for a legal common-sense decision. We will see what happens. In Sweden you can murder and steal from people. The Swedish laws do not protect the individual, but they do punish motorists quite heavily with heavy fines to the Swedish government. I remember the story of one guy who came to Sweden from Poland. He killed an old man at random, then from prison he sent is weekly allowance home to support his family. His prison weekly allowance was higher than any wage he could have expected back home.