Background
Little did I know when all of this started that I’d be writing a series on it. If you’ve not already done this, please read up on the main page, the second page and third page of this subject. On this last day of 2025 we are now on page four of this debacle. In short, we sold some land and provided an easement on our land (this is crucial) for the buyers to access their property, and then the new owner tried to take us for a ride by claiming the easement as their property. To understand this sequel better, please read the main and second articles first (see links above).
So, what’s up this time then?
On the 31st of December 2025, I went to pick up the mail from the previous week and found the neighbors had now completely blocked the road by mounting a heavy steel chain with large locks to heavy stones on either side of the road. Truth be told, I heard him hauling the heavy chain in the dark the evening before. I was taking out the garbage and only heard what I believed was a chain being dragged in the gravel road. In the morning, it became clear that it was indeed a chain, but now its use became clear too.
What does it look like, you may wonder. I’m glad you asked, lemme show ya real quick. Here you go:
What you see in the photo is the easement road on the left half, our yellow garage in the middle, and our cars on the right. All the way left of the easement road, you see part of the property of the neighbors, neatly divided from the road by a curbstone. The two stones with the chain attached between them are exactly on the property line between our land and the land owned by the golf club. The easement road is our property, not the neighbors. The complete road, including the tiny part over the land of the golf club, is covered by an easement for the neighbors to go to or from their property. It does not cover anything else than access to and from their property. And, according to the easement stipulations, they have no other rights to do whatever they like with it, such as blocking it for us, or parking their cars on it – it is solely for access to their property on the left of the curbstone.
You may also wonder what happened to the previous police report, filed a few weeks ago. Incidentally, we found the paper version of the report in the mail today. By a strange coincidence, the perpetrator was changed to ‘unknown’, rather than the name and address of the neighbor we clearly indicated was indeed the perpetrator. We’ll be calling the police about what went wrong here. The letter also mentioned that the matter could, ‘for obvious reasons’, not be investigated further. These reasons to keep his name out are not at all obvious to us. We’ll be inquiring about that too. Keep ya posted…
How often do we need access?
There are two aspects in this case: the principle of access to our property, and the actual required use of the easement road. I’ll not be discussing the first one, as it would be clear to anyone that you have an absolute right to access your own property, in the same manner that the neighbors have an absolute right to access theirs via the easement road.
The actual required use is not often, and can be categorized as:
- We have a trailer that can hardly turn around in our limited parking space (once or twice a year)
- We have guests unfamiliar with the area using the ‘wrong’ entrance to our property (once or twice a year)
- We have guests visiting us with a large RV that cannot turn around in our parking space (a few times every year)
So it’s not exactly like we’re wearing out the road!
So what now then?
Simple, I just filed a new police report of ‘Egenmäktig förfarande‘, which apparently translates to ‘Criminal conversion‘ – I do like the word criminal used in this context! Additionally, I’ll be sending the neighbors an email ordering them to allow us unlimited access, or else…
These last two words didn’t impress the neighbors earlier this year – until it escalated to a court case. Then they TACO:ed out and were forced to reimburse our costs. The two aforementioned words turned out to be rather costly for them. With this new escalation, we’ll duplicate the process and once again demand that if full access is not granted within a few weeks, we’ll escalate again.
Now for some Q and A:
- Q: Will you be sending the neighbors a happy holidays card?
A: Nope, we will do no such thing. - Q: …
A: …
Then came new year!
When shoveling snow on the 2nd of January, I noticed the neighbor preparing to go somewhere. Not that I ever take notice of such trivial and uninteresting facts of life. 
But since the chain, the procedure to leave and come home again has changed for them. First, he removed the lock on one side so the chain could be lowered. Then he fetched the car, drove it over the chain, and stopped to reattach the chain. Apart from this being tedious and unnecessary, this gotta be a hazard if blue-light services are required. But again, this is up to them. When he noticed me taking a picture, he started shouting my way. He threatened to report me to the police twice, presumably to emphasize the seriousness of his threat. I invited him to actually do that – twice, as this seems his way to communicate this sort of thing.
Notably, the email we sent on New Year’s Eve was not mentioned, nor did we get an email reply. Judging by his actions sketched above, they aren’t going to comply to anything. So a new round of legal skermishing is to be expected.
Why this detailed log?
Fair question, I might as well let it all slide and cave to the quirks of the neighbors. That would be the easiest way. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work well for me. If you think I should let it slide, then ask yourself this question: If your neighbor decides to park his car blocking the back entry to your garden, forcing you to take your bicycles through your house and out the front door. How would you feel about that? Right, so you understand.
Writing it down in detail has three reasons:
- As we went ‘legal’, it’s good to have all details ready for the lawyer, not just bad memories.
- I happen to like writing stuff down on my website. When this all started, I didn’t write down a lot. But as the lawyer became involved, it became more important to do so
- Af anyone asks about the neighborly dispute (many have), I can refer to these pages.
And then there’s a 4th reason that came up much later. I assure you that I never intended this, but perhaps it’s material for a book?
Let it be noted that only if you’ve been to our place lately, you may have a clue about which neighbor all of this is about. If you’ve not been here, you won’t know who it is. And even if our address is public record, our road is not on Street View. Quite sure we’re well within the strict boundaries of the GDPR legislation.
…
Sorry to say, but this thing is likely to be continued, so hang in there folks…
Editor’s comment:
As always, the above is an as-exact-as-I-can representation of the facts as we experienced them, and not fancied up in any way. It is not derived from any of my books, though the longer it goes on, the more I’m tempted to have it end up in one I will write in the future.
Paul
2025-12
Sweden
You can read the complete line of events here:
https://www.allegedfacts.eu/?s=easement