Near Spicewood in Travis County, a homeowner put in a tramway and a set of stairs running down to his boat dock. Court records show the tramway and stairs were permanent structures built partly on the lot next door. The dock floated, so it was not a trespass by itself, but the neighbors alleged it was illegally tethered to their land.
That was not all. One of the neighbors testified that while he renovated his house, he used her property as a staging area, and his contractors clear-cut a section of it, “which included the removal of a large and valuable oak tree.”
At the house, he was running a commercial bed-and-breakfast. The subdivision’s deed restrictions said no lot could be used “for anything other than single-family, private residential purposes.”…